


The Lamaze Class

by agoodwoman



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Case Fic, F/M, MSR, Paternity, Pregnancy, S8: DeadAlive, Season 8, X Files Season 8, case-fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-29
Updated: 2015-04-22
Packaged: 2018-02-27 10:56:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 34,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2690270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agoodwoman/pseuds/agoodwoman
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set at the end of Season 8. Post DeadAlive and before Existence. Mulder is alive, Scully has lamaze class and they find their way back to each other again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Lamaze

It was early Sunday afternoon and Dana Scully was just arriving home from morning mass. The sun shone outside on the streets of Georgetown as it tried to dry the morning rain, a shower to clean the city streets. As a child, Scully thought of morning rain as a temporary baptism for the earth, cleansing it from the sins of its people.  It took a lot more than precipitation, she knew that now.  
  
This Sunday had marked the seventh consecutive week she had attended mass. There was disruption after the disappearance of Mulder, then working with her new partner and their trips to the field. Special Agent John Doggett had come to know her weekend routine as she did his. If they had not seen one another over the two-day respite, on Monday mornings, when they enjoyed a coffee and the quiet solitude of the basement office he would ask her about her weekend and church specifically. He explained his appreciation for a good sermon, growing up in a strong Baptist community and so, to be polite she would ask him about the game he watched whether it was hockey, football, baseball or even Nascar. John Doggett was a man's man and didn't discriminate against any sporting event.  
  
Attending mass in her 'condition' caused some stir for some of the older members of the church. There was speculation among the parishioners about whether an unmarried, pregnant woman should be allowed to attend the mass, let alone take communion. After a home visit with Dana and Margaret Scully, Father McCue had put his foot down to the board of managers and the other priests of the parish.   
  
Some mornings she felt like sleeping in, spending the day in her pyjamas and taking a long bath but her soul * _felt_ * better when she went. From the time Fox Mulder went missing, she was there, weekly, praying for his safe return, even going so far as to put his name the church newsletter for the prayer tree. Since she had the members of her church praying for him, she went.   
  
For the first time during her pregnancy, she was asked today whether she was planning to baptize the baby. She had just entered her third trimester, at twenty-eight weeks and Mulder had been home and alive for just over two.   
  
The baby was not due for another three months and she planned to work as long as her doctor allowed. Upon her last weekly check-up, she smiled at the measuring tape of Dana Scully's growing belly.   
  
"Thirty inches for thirty weeks." Dr Mary Speake reported. Her round face and kind eyes always reassured her. She had a bedside manner she was drawn to from their first meeting.   
  
Dana Scully did not feel like it was just thirty inches. It felt like fifty inches and one hundred cumbersome pounds, even though she had only gained twenty five at this point. The last trimester was the biggest push to a woman's system, gaining the most weight for the whole pregnancy. Towards the end, the baby would gain half a pound to a pound a week.  
  
"You're doing great! The baby looks good, strong heartbeat and I'm glad to hear you're cutting back on your field duties at work. You've gained the right amount of weight and I know your Lamaze classes start soon. Do you have any other questions, Dana?"

* _Dana._ * It was such a strange thing to hear her given name from friends and family when Scully was how she had come to identify herself.* _Agent Scully, Agent, Doctor Scully, just Scully but rarely Dana._ *  
  
At first, she thought she had lost sight of that woman, of Dana, when she stopped identifying with Dana and began to think of herself more as Scully. For seven years, all day, every day she had been called Scully by a man who used it sometimes to bookend sentences.   
Dana had sex with her college professors, mentors and married men. Dana went on vacations and allowed her skin to get sun-kissed while she drank fruity drinks near warm water. Dana went to church regularly and sought the approval of her father.  
  
Scully was a persona, a character of herself who became who she actually was. An FBI agent who wore fitted suits, three-inch heels, and was a good shot. Scully was Mulder's partner, Mrs Spooky, a pathologist, a medical doctor and a woman who said no to a lot of dates. Scully was the intellectual equal to a well-bred, Oxford graduate profiler. This persona was okay to be the asexual or sexless creature Mulder often treated her to make things easier. Easier on whom she wasn't sure, but it was easier.   
  
It wasn't as though he was ignorant to her being a woman - he was raised well and treated her respectfully. There was a sense of him being a gentleman, even though he could often times treat her as one of the boys. It was not a typical male/female relationship but one often found in the FBI with less sexual tension. Mulder was chivalrous to open doors, escort her out rooms and carry her bags but never because she wasn't capable as a woman only for the fear that he could insult her by recognizing her gender. According to Mulder's quest driven brain, Scully was completely separate from sexual desires and therefore, he could work alongside of her without fear of recurrence of his history with Diana.   
  
That didn't make Mulder any less hormone filled and male. If Scully would discuss it with her medical colleagues, they would point out that choosing a celibate romantic life while continuing to self-pleasure could possibly make his libido more heightened. On countless occasions, he would be caught staring at certain parts of her anatomy such as her breasts, her backside, sometimes her legs in a certain skirt. Yet, he could look and not touch and still keep their professional masks in place. Their pursuits were driven by a quest, to find the truth.   
  
It wasn't until her tryst with Ed Jerse in Philadelphia that he began to realize how quickly she could disregard their roles as partners, as non-romantic beings to get a physical release. She wasn't angelic, she wasn't pure. She was the kind of naughty, sailor's daughter who got a tattoo and slept with a man on the first date after a few drinks at a seedy bar. That was Dana of the Dana Scully identity.   
  
Then as soon as he saw it, it was hidden again when she was diagnosed with cancer. He took it on as another quest and another wall to break down of lies that are dressed as the truth. Through her pain, the chemo, the slow feeling of her life being drained from her, she was grateful they were at the utmost, partners and friends who respected and loved one another.   
  
Along the way, during their partnership, sex together might have provided a temporary respite from their constant battle, uncovering lies masked as truths. It might have relieved some tension they found with one another, constantly battling and fighting one another. She knew, however, you can't fuck someone you're in love with and hide your love. Sex between two casual, consenting adults is one thing. If she used his body or he used hers, it would have left her feeling more hollow and her body was already that. Unable to conceive, unable to endure the cancer, this invader of cells, attacking other cells.  
  
Mulder, of course, had no romantic entanglements. He told her as many times when he showed up at her apartment unannounced, called her to come over at all hours. What woman would put up with that? As much as the secretaries talked about the things they would like to do to him, he never seemed to notice. He would satisfy any sexual physical release with pornography and masturbation rather than taint another person with himself.   
  
The baby inside her, kicking her insides and pushing on her bladder brought her back to present day. As she closed the door behind her and entered her quiet apartment she looked around. Mulder had returned from the dead and she was still alone most days. Thinking about their inability to openly communicate for years made her wonder how she ever got pregnant at all. They were somewhat slightly more than emotionally handicapped.  
  
How did a man who could talk for days about anything avoid talking about how he felt about her? He probably took his cues from her. He once called her the queen of emotional evasion after he told her he loved her and she had brushed him off.  
  
The phone rang, as if on cue, to bring her out of her reverie.  
  
"Hello?" She had started answering her home phone like a normal person after her mother reminded her that her baby might grow up thinking it was customary to answer a phone by saying your last name.   
  
"Hey, uh Scully...hey, it's me." Mulder's voice came through clearly from the other end of the line. She wondered if that related any approximation to how close he was to her apartment. "How was church?"  
  
"Fine, it was fine," she said, almost sadly. "As much as can be expected."  
  
"Pregnant women cause a lot of stir at your parish?" he teased.  
  
" _Single_ pregnant women do, Mulder."   
  
As though she had to remind anyone she was unmarried. She could almost hear his jaw clench and the wince through the phone. 

"What do you want Mulder?" she asked when he said nothing to her last retort. "I have a few things I need to do around here and to be honest, I really don't want to go to the zoo with you."  
  
She hoped she didn't sound bitchy but he had been pestering her about visiting the monkey house since last week. Something about a pregnant chimpanzee. She did not appreciate the parallels.   
  
"Uh, no, I thought maybe we could, uh, hang out," he replied almost confidently.   
  
She would have bought it if he hadn't stumbled at first. "Okayyyy..."  
  
"We can stay in, I promise," he said. "No monkeys."  
  
She ran her tongue over her top lip, glancing around the empty space she suddenly wanted to be filled with his noisy presence. "Sure."  
  
"Don't waddle to the door for me, ok? I will let myself in."  
  
Ten minutes later Mulder was opening her front door with two cloth grocery bags filled with food and what looked like the outline of a few movies. Scully followed him to the kitchen where he started unloading his loot.   
  
"Are those movies that would be safe if my mother came by?" she gestured with her pinky finger to the DVD's  he was holding. She couldn't make out the titles with his large hands covering most of the cases.  
  
Mulder grinned. "Sure, I've got Junior, Father of the Bride Part 2, Nine Months and She's Having a Baby."  
  
Scully's eyebrows furrowed and her jaw dropped. "Are you serious?"  
  
Mulder laughed. "No I brought Castaway, High Fidelity, and Almost Famous."  
  
This time he was serious. They were the top movies that had been released that year. Last time they watched a movie together it was Caddyshack, not her pick but it had some promising results.   
  
This was the side of Mulder that confused Scully. This side of Mulder left chocolates on her desk on Valentine's day and brought her a coffee on random days of the week with sugar-free flavouring, half fat milk and an extra shot of espresso. He picked up her dry-cleaning once when she was at an autopsy all afternoon after she grumbled about her suit being held hostage by a cranky Polish woman. When she arrived home that evening, her dry-cleaning was hanging in her bedroom closet and he had left a single carnation, one that had been purchased and not picked, on her bedside table in a vase. It was so out of character and shocking to her that she couldn't comment on it.  
  
Since returning from the dead, he was an enigma wrapped in a riddle. He wasn't the man who left her in the halls of the FBI, telling him he couldn't lose her. He wasn't the man who tugged on her wrist gently so she would turn into an embrace fueled by deep kisses and an exchange of breath. He was a man who pointed at her stomach and acted as though the sex they had, the sperm he ejaculated into her, was completely separate from the baby growing inside her.  
  
"Okay, well do you want some lunch?" She gestured to the food he was putting away in the fridge.   
  
"I can make some sandwiches if you want to get changed," he said over his shoulder. "Most of this stuff is for supper."  
  
 _Supper, so he thinks he's staying for supper_ , she thought. She didn't have a response so she left to get out of her dress and into something more comfortable.   
  
These days she liked to pad around in her pyjamas if she wasn't at work however she didn't want Mulder to think she wanted to go to bed. In her third trimester she was often times sleepy and felt like a nap could be had at any moment but if she had sleepwear on she might as well have silently communicated to her old partner that she was not interested in his company.  
  
Not knowing where they stood left her with a lot of inner dialogue and overthinking every situation.

As if on autopilot, she slowly removed her dress and hung it in her closet. Next were the maternity pantyhose she had wiggled herself into that morning. As she stood in her bedroom, in her bra and maternity panties, the kind that dipped under her belly, she heard a knock at her bedroom door that she had left slightly ajar.  
  
His voice became louder as he entered the room. "Hey Scully, do you want mustard-"  
  
"Mulder!" She turned away from him and grabbed her robe, as she tried to cover herself.   
  
He had two choices: to apologize and head back to the kitchen or to cover his eyes to allow some privacy. Being of a New England upbringing in the finest schools, of course, Mulder chose instead to pick the third, unlisted option and stand there, staring at her form. He must have been able to see more of her in the reflection of the mirror because he grinned slightly. She knew how she looked with a rounded behind, the pink material of a bra with thicker straps than she used to wear to accommodate fuller breasts.  
  
"Do you want mustard on your sandwich?"

Crimson cheeks and the look of confusion must not have registered to Mulder that she was completely baffled by what he was doing. Since they found him, he was completely detached to her, as though they had never been lovers and was pregnant from someone else. For a while, he looked at her like she had gotten herself knocked up with Special Agent John Doggett's southern seed after a weekend of wild sex. Nothing could be further from possibility or truth.  
  
"Mulder, can you turn around so I can-"  
  
Mulder took a few steps towards her in the room and reached for the bathrobe she was attempting to cover herself with. He gave her a half smile, that goofy one he gave her after he kissed her on New Years with Frank Black and his daughter thirty feet away.  
  
"You know, I've seen the goods, right?" he teased and put his hands on her bare shoulders, sliding his hands up and down her arms.  
  
"This is different," she mumbled, her fingers still clinging to the terrycloth material. "I'm not..."  
  
Her voice trailed off. She wasn't sure where she was going with that last statement.    
  
"Can I be the judge of that?" he asked, his voice low and tugged on her hands.  
  
At this stage in her pregnancy, the last person to see her in this state of undress was her doctor. Her nipples, that were always erect these days, tightened under her bra and her skin tingled across her belly. Looking at his face, she could tell there was a shift in his perception of the pregnancy however she wasn't sure she was able to move forward without any kind of discussion.  
  
Against her better judgement, she allowed him to take the white robe from her hands and he tossed it to the bed, his eyes never leaving hers. Slowly, his gaze travelled down to her chest, then to the swell of her stomach.  
  
" _Scully_ ," he said her name almost like a prayer.   
  
She licked her lips nervously. "My doctor says everything is fine, I haven't gained too much weight, you know a common mistake a lot of women make during their first pregnancies, and-"  
  
"You look... You look _beautiful_ ," he said, cutting her off and suddenly pressed his mouth to hers.   
  
It was a gentle, chaste kiss like their first one. Full of promises and intent. His arms travelled down her shoulders to her back and pulled her body more flush against his. With the height difference and an almost full-term baby in her stomach, there wasn't a possibility for him to grind his hips into hers as he used to do. His lips captured hers more fully and his tongue pushed past her lips to massage and entice. She could feel his excitement against her stomach and the baby took notice, pushing back at the pressure.  
  
Mulder pulled back and looked down at her stomach, moving slightly. "What was that?"  
  
"Could have been an elbow," she said and placed her hand over the protrusion. Another one stuck out from her side, near her hip. "That would be the foot."  
  
"Am I getting a red light?" he asked, staring down at her stomach.  
  
Scully sighed and stepped away from him. She picked up her robe and quickly donned it. "Not a red light but..."  
  
"Yellow light?"  
  
"I feel silly," she admitted and ducked her head, turning her face away from him. The blush rising up in her cheeks.  
  
"You know what is silly?" Mulder asked. "Silly is us not talking about what is going to happen after you deliver. Silly is a grown man not being involved and running from his responsibilities."  
  
"You don't need to feel obligated to-"   
  
"Get dressed, ok? We really need to talk," Mulder said and left the room.  
  
Those last four words had rarely come from his mouth and usually meant he wanted her to open up about her feelings after he did the same.  
  
Dressing in leggings, and a light sweater, she brushed her teeth and washed the makeup off her face she put on for church. As she tidied her bathroom and hung up her robe carefully she realized she was stalling unnecessarily. 

 

***********

 

When she joined Mulder in the kitchen he was holding the jar of mustard and mayonnaise and staring at her open faced sandwich, not sure how to proceed.

 

"I like mayo," she said and his eyebrows shot up. She gave a slight shrug of her shoulders. "Baby cravings."

 

"Ooooo-kay," he said with a laugh while he slathered mayonnaise onto her bread, cutting the sandwich diagonally and handing it to her on a plate. 

 

"I'm going to have a glass of milk, do you want some?" she offered as she took out a carton of 2 per cent from the refrigerator.

 

"Sure," he said, looking at her like she could be a doppelganger Scully who ate mayo regardless of the calories and drank fuller fat milk... "Two per cent?"

 

"I like it, the baby likes it," she said and rubbed her stomach in a round motion. Her face suddenly registered one of surprise and she grabbed a bag of chips from the cupboard, sprinkling a few on her plate and his. 

 

He followed her with his lunch to the table and they sat in comfortable silence, eating and drinking a lunch more fitted for two kids not two people in their thirties about to have a baby.

 

"Scully..."

 

"Mulder," she interrupted. "This IS your baby."

 

"How can you be sure?" He asked. 

 

He wasn't entirely implying it was the insemination of anyone else but he wasn't entirely implying that it wasn't the cause of another intervention. Scully did not appreciate either insinuation.

 

"I wasn't sleeping with anyone else and I don't buy into the idea that this came about from some immaculate conception because of the chip in my neck. I had an amnio done when I was about 12 weeks along, you can use those tests to determine paternity. I compared the results to the sample we have on file at the FBI..." Her words were even and cool, she delivered them as though she would any details she relayed to Skinner after a case. "When my doctor did the dating ultrasound they confirmed conception to be the week before we went to Oregon."

 

A look of realization dawned on Mulder. They had quite a lot of loud, happy sex that weekend. He had just brought the world back from the 'World Peace' bullshit Jenn pulled and they watched guy movies at his apartment. Mulder chose to show his gratitude towards her existence twice that night after the movie and three times on Saturday. They hadn't used protection the entire time they had been sleeping together.

 

"Right, so before you say anything else, yes this is your baby but please don't feel obligated to me or it in any way."

 

"Scully, you can't be serious!" Mulder stood up from the table and walked to the counter. How many times had she said those words to him in this exact place of her apartment, arguing over evidence? The evidence of their union strained against the soft wool of her sweater and she was saying that he was off the hook. "So, what? Thanks for the year of sex and no problem for bringing me back from the dead but now I'm not needed anymore?"

 

"Nothing is more attractive to a man than a woman pushing commitment," she muttered. 

 

That was possibly the most insecure and outlandish thing he had ever heard her say.  It was more insecure than the time she told him she was trying to lose 7 lbs when she couldn't have been any larger than a size 2 as she ate six ounces of plain yoghurt and bee pollen for lunch.

  
He took two long strides across the kitchen to her and knelt down in front of her in her seat at the table. 

 

"Whatever you think about us, you are my friend and I'm yours. But to suggest after what was a pretty great thing that I would just fuck off and not be involved, if you wanted me to be, then I don't know what to tell you. I'm here. I want to be here. I want to be involved."

 

"I'm not going on a six-week maternity leave from the X-Files and then jumping back into the field," she said as though that would be the deal breaker.

 

"Are you worried I'm going to be disappointed in you if you don't keep working in the basement office of the Hoover building?"

  
Scully suddenly found the hemline of her sweater fascinating and she plucked at the edge that sat against her hip. "Well...."

 

"Scully, as far as I'm concerned, you've paid your penance to this quest. Kersh not allowing my return to the X-Files made me realize I had a lot more reasons to keep fighting and uncovering the truth but not if that means not having you in my life every day. I want to be around for all this stuff and not as a weird Uncle Mulder capacity." She smiled at that. "Can you stop trying to push me away and let me in a little?"

 

He pulled her into an embrace but her hands remained in her lap.

 

"You want me around, don't you Scully?" He asked, somewhat nervously. "There isn't, uh, anyone else... Like Agent-"

 

Scully pushed him away from her at looked at him like he had just suggested Big Blue lived in the Chesapeake Bay Area.

 

"I see the way he looks at you," he continued. "I thought maybe while I was gone...Maybe you two..."

 

"I don't appreciate the insinuation, Mulder." She said and got up from the table, with minimal difficulty. "We had buried you but my heart still belonged to you, no matter what you might think. John has been a good friend."

 

" _John_?" he emphasized the use of Doggett's first name. He followed her to the sink with his dishes. "John as in John Doggett?"

 

"Yes," she said. "Before you came back he was very helpful."

 

"Don't tell me he put together any baby furniture or I might lose it, Scully, I swear."  He had stopped being concerned about how she perceived how he felt and started feeling more territorial. "Did *John* put together the crib or that bassinet rocker over there?"

 

Scully washed the plates, avoiding her eyes. "Yes." 

 

It came out like a whisper but it felt like a bang in Mulder's ears.

 

The phone rang and Mulder walked to the living room to pick up the cordless phone.

 

"Dana Scully's residence."

 

"Hello, Fox is that you?" It was Margaret Scully. 

 

He was momentarily happy she didn't ask if it was John Doggett first then felt a feeling of remorse how easily his presence was a shock to the Scully women.

 

"Hi, Mrs Scully, how are you?" He asked.

 

"I'm fine, thank you Fox." She said. "How have you been feeling?"

 

"Well, for a dead man I feel pretty good," he said. 

 

There were a few things about the return to the living that made Margaret Scully uncomfortable. He once joked it wasn't divine intervention because Jesus made his return after three days, not three months and it made her leave the room for fifteen minutes. He hadn't seen Maggie since then.  

 

She let him hear the disappointment in her sigh. "Is Dana there?"

 

Scully looked up from the kitchen and padded her way across to him in the living room, carrying a dishtowel and drying suds from her fingers. She held out a still damp hand to him and Mulder took it as though she wanted to hold his hand instead of taking the phone. The look on her face was not impressed.

 

"She's just cleaning up after lunch," he winked at Scully and she squeezed his fingers. " _Ouch!_ Here she is."

 

Scully took the phone from Mulder and tossed the towel at his face. "You can finish the dishes. I'll be in the other room."

 

Mulder smiled and went about cleaning the rest of the lunch dishes. Scully went into the baby's room and sat in the rocking chair. The curve of the chair supported her lower back and she often found herself sitting in there when she spoke on the phone, read a book or folded baby clothes. "Hi Mom, how are you feeling? Any better?"

 

"Dana, don't worry about me." Maggie had been suffering from a post-nasal drip and decided to stay home from church that morning. "Have you asked Fox to join you at the lamaze classes yet? I know I said I would go with you but you two should really do this together."  

 

"No, I haven't asked him yet." 

 

Margaret Scully had many opinions that she kept to herself when she found out about the baby. However when her daughter had asked her to come to Lamaze with her, a floodgate of opinions flew out, and the first one was colourfully put about the role of the father.

  
Maggie let a pause hang in the air, knowing that if she remained quiet her daughter would crack. Baby out of wedlock with her unemployed former partner, Dana Scully didn't have a leg to stand on.

 

"I will ask him today," Dana said. 

 

Mulder chose that moment to walk into the baby's room. "Ask me what?"

 

"I should go," she said to her mother. "Are you still coming for supper tomorrow?"

 

"No, Dana, I think you and Fox should go to supper together after the class," Maggie said, a smile playing on her voice. Dana watched Mulder walk casually but curiously around the room. He shook the crib to test its sturdiness. "Call me when you get home from work and we can plan some baby shopping later in the week."

 

"Mom, you know that's not necessary, I have the shower coming up," she reminded her. 

 

"Don't deprive your mother of spoiling her only east coast grandchild." Maggie admonished and hung up.

 

"Ask me what Scully?" Mulder pressed.

 

"Lamaze," she stated. His face did not register a connection. Scully gave a few quick breaths as though she was breathing through a contraction. "Lamaze classes for the baby?"

 

"Oh! Yeah sure, Scully, right, right, right," he nodded and continued to look around the nursery.

 

"Forget it, I will ask my mother if she can come instead," she walked past him toward the door. 

 

He grabbed her wrist to stop her. "I didn't say no."

 

"You didn't say yes. This is the stuff the father gets involved in," she told him gently. "If you want to be involved, do this with me."

  
Mulder tugged her towards him and put his left hand on her lower back, his right keeping his grip on her left wrist, holding her in a loose embrace.

 

"Scully, can I come with you to Lamaze?" He bent his head towards hers and placed a soft kiss above her ear.

 

The hormones involved in pregnancy were tricky. She could go from flustered, to weepy to turned on in a matter of minutes. The avid reader Mulder was, she wondered if he knew that and was using that to his advantage.

 

"Yes," she said lightly. "Uh, that would be good."

 

He placed another soft kiss on her head, this time on her face near her hairline. "Do you want to watch a movie?" 

 

His question was innocent but the timber in his voice reminded her of the last time they made love. 

 

"Yes," she said, her voice laden with double meaning.

 

 


	2. Movies

Mulder sat with Scully's bare feet in his lap, massaging them gently as John Cusack flubbed his way through his romantic life. Jack Black was currently spinning around on the screen, dancing to "I'm walking on Sunshine" and Scully let out a full belly laugh. 

 

Mulder smiled and continued to massage her feet. "Do you want anymore popcorn?"

 

Scully looked at the empty ceramic bowl on her coffee table that held seven unpopped popcorn kernels and butter that was starting to harden. When Mulder dove his hand into the buttery treat he looked at her with shock and amazement. 

 

"Butter?"

 

Scully ate a few slippery pieces and smiled. "I'm trying to be more American."

 

He recalled the events of that evening after calling her un-American for enjoying her popcorn plain. She had performed fellatio until her jaw ached while he paid attention to her achieving multiple orgasms with his tongue. 

 

She rubbed her rounded belly and pulled her feet away from his grasp. He had been massaging them since the last hour of Castaway. "No, Mulder I want to save room for this dinner you are apparently making me tonight."

 

"Okay, good. I hope you brought your appetite. Can you actually eat for two or is that one of those myths that women make up during pregnancy so they can fall off their diets?"

 

"I find I eat more frequently, but not more in each portion. The placenta has pushed my stomach up against my diaphragm so I have to eat five or six times a day," she explained as she tried to indicate where the placenta was in relation to the rest of the baby.

 

Mulder moved closer to her on the couch, pulling her legs straight across his lap. "Where is it?"

 

Scully pushed on her belly to feel around. At month six, there was still quite a lot of empty space when she lay down. "Here." She said and took his hand. 

 

Mulder's hand under Scully's, against her stomach above her bellybutton and then pushing against what felt like a round little bottom.

 

"Is that?"

 

"His bum, I would think." 

 

A few movements of the fetus started and she moved their hands towards the movement towards her side. "There."

 

His face lit up and his smile grew wide. "What's that?'

 

Scully thought for a moment. "I think that is an elbow"

 

Suddenly the outline of a foot pressed firmly against Mulder's palm. His hand could feel it distinctly through her light sweater and he looked at her in shock.  She smiled at him, knowing that his interest and curiosity would eventually lead them to this point of him discovering the child moving inside her to be just as fascinating as an EBE. 

 

"This is incredible," he said. 

 

"Have you felt a woman's belly before?" She asked him as she tried to wiggle herself into a more upright position, moving her legs to the floor. It was not an easy feat with her belly and she was having a hard time on the soft couch.

 

Mulder leaned into her, halting her from moving away from him. He placed a kiss on her lips and she sighed as his tongue sought entrance to her mouth. His hand moved from her stomach to her upper arm while his other arm snaked around her body and to her back. It was tricky to kiss and touch each other with a protrusion under her sweater the size of a basketball between them. 

 

"No," he murmured against her lips before sliding his tongue against hers again. 

 

Dana Scully could kiss Fox Mulder for hours, even days, if she didn't need to eat, sleep or bathe. He seemed to inherently know how to excite her with simple things such as the perfect pressure against her lips the way his hand always found its way into her hair or the way in which he massaged his tongue against hers before allowing her tongue entry to his mouth. 

 

"No, what?" She asked after a few minutes of what she deemed to be very promising kissing. 

 

Mulder placed his lips lightly against the side of her mouth. "No, ma'am?"

 

"What was the question?" She asked in a breathy voice as he kissed his way across her jaw and down the creamy slope of her neck, nibbling on the tendons there.

 

"Uh, babies in bellies I think," he said between kisses. He looked at her wet, baby blue eyes and sighed. "The last time I was around a pregnant woman was probably when my mom was having Samantha. My memories of that time are pretty foggy."

 

"I don't remember when my mom had Charlie," she said, running her finger along the soft material of his grey t-shirt at the collar. A manicured fingernail drew circles at the base of his neck. "He was just always there."

 

More kisses passed between the former partners. Mulder began pushing her further into the cushions. A bent knee brought an invitation to explore the area behind her knee. She pulled him closer with her calf but she turned her face away, to try to cool things down. These were the mixed signals Mulder had come to know from Scully when they first started things a year and a half ago. Pressure on his hips while she pushed on his chest to stop his kisses.

 

"I should start dinner," Mulder sighed resolutely and gently moved her legs off his lap. 

 

"What's on the menu?" She asked as she smoothed her hair and wiped at the corners of her mouth. 

 

"I thought I could make spaghetti a la Mulder," he said with a grin. "Sauce from scratch!"

 

He started to reach out to help her off the couch but then didn't know if she would find that insulting. He decided to hell with it and took her hand to give her a bit of leverage. 

 

"We could always order pizza," she suggested suddenly craving mushrooms and green peppers. 

 

"Are you doubting my culinary skills, Miss Scully?" He asked with mock hurt.

 

"Mulder the last thing you made me was that sandwich, and that was a big win. Maybe we shouldn't push our luck."

 

"You know Scully, I _can_  follow a recipe," he reminded her. "I made you that chicken and rice thing once."

 

Instead of trying to talk him out of it she nodded and covered her mouth with her hand as she yawned. "I'm going to lay down while you work."

 

A few moments later she was deep asleep on her bed, covered by a light blue quilt with a pillow between her knees and one behind her back. 

 

When she awoke, there was a firm hand on her hip and instead of behind her back a long pillow, Mulder's hips pressing into her backside. Scully could smell garlic bread baking in the oven, sauce simmering on the stove and it was heavenly.

  
"Hi," she said, her voice low from sleep. "Something smells delicious."

 

It made Mulder think of all the times they were together when he woke her up in the  middle of the night to make love. 

  
A hand slipped under her sweater and up her belly to a heavier breast than he left when he went back to Oregon. His hand moved to her back and deftly unclasped the back before moving back to her chest. His mouth did not remain idle as he kissed the slope of her neck and pressed his arousal into her backside. Scully hadn't felt this turned on since the first time they slept together. 

  
With a life growing inside of her, she had hardly felt sexual the last three months. She had been in mourning and then trying to deal with the fact that he seemed almost angry at her for being pregnant. For the sake of their future, she had to push all that aside. 

 

"Scully, is it safe to-"

 

"My doctor said it should be fine," she whispered and rolled onto her back. 

 

Needing no further encouragement, he knelt upright on his knees and pulled his shirt off over his head. She did the same and discarded her bra. He was able to get his jeans and boxers off in what Scully could only count as record time. She lay on the bed, her leggings and panties still on, her chest flushed with want and staring at Mulder's excitement for her.

 

As he slowly peeled her leggings and panties down and off her legs he trailed kisses along her smooth skin as he went. "You look amazing."

 

"You keep saying that," she pointed out. "Are you telling me or reassuring yourself?"

 

"Scully, I have half a mind to take you over my knee for that kind of comment," he said in a mock serious tone. "Would you stop? I can put it as plainly as I possibly can. You, pregnant, full of life and carrying my child, really _does_ _it_ for me."

 

Scully did note that he had maintained his erection through this exchange and was currently rubbing it on her leg as he was trying to convince her he was as into her as she was into him. Sometimes being a woman could be infuriating. 

 

"Are you comfortable on your back, like that?" Mulder asked. 

 

Suddenly she realized this was going to happen and she felt nervous. She licked her bottom lip and nodded. Reminding herself to breathe, she took a deep breath and opened her legs wider for him to settle himself between better. His excitement for her pressed against her upper thigh and she rubbed her slick folds on his length.

 

"Can I do-" Mulder started. "I mean, uh, do you need me..."

 

"Maybe another time?" She suggested nervously. 

 

Before his disappearance, he went to great lengths to ensure her pleasure was paramount. The ferocity and tenacity that he put forth to his quest for the truth was focused on her and at times would be overwhelming. Being with someone who had an oral fixation on sunflower seeds was anything if not advantageous to her. She, however, did not feel the need to always indulge. 

 

He argued with her once, with his face inches from her sex, her blouse halfway undone and his pants around his ankles that it was as much for him as it was for her. Her counterargument was to allow her to chose how many orgasms she had and once she said stop, that he should actually stop. Leave it to them to debate theories in bed, even if it was over sexual favours instead of scientific facts versus the paranormal.

 

Mulder kissed her thoroughly and settled himself between her thighs. He was surprised how different yet how familiar it all felt to have him on top of her. 

 

"Ready?" He asked and she nodded. 

 

Slowly, he guided himself inside her, pushing against her and he sighed as he felt the familiar tight fist of the sex of Dana Scully.  

 

It was not the same, to be penetrated by his thick girth and impressive length while carrying his child. It was less comfortable and she wondered if he could tell the difference also. Her body felt already invaded by this being of theirs she was growing inside of her and now she was being filled with more of him. Her eyes widened as he continued to push inside her and then buried himself to the hilt.

  
" _Oh_ ," she breathed in surprise. It was different, but more intense in other ways and so delicious. 

  
The muscles in his jaw clenched. "Yeah." 

  
A few moments passed of them staring at one another and they shared a smile before he began pumping in a slow and lazy rhythm. It was not first time sex between new lovers. It was happy, steady sex between a pair with love and mutual respect.

  
Needing to feel more of his weight on her, she tugged him closer towards him. "I'm not crushing you?" He asked, not missing a beat.

  
"No, it's fine." She assured him and took the opportunity to kiss and nip at his neck. 

  
"No one seems bothered by the movement," he said, glancing quickly from her face down past her breasts to her belly.

  
"The baby probably enjoys the rocking motion," she said and gave her internal muscles a squeeze.

  
"Gah! Jeezus Scully, don't _do_  that!" Mulder knew if she started milking him with her walls this would be over in a matter of seconds. So did she.

 

He decided he needed to keep the upper hand and he pulled out of her. 

 

"Where-"

 

Her thought couldn't go much further because he pulled her down the bed and rolled her onto her side, pushing her right knee up before entering her, still above her, his chest brushing against her arm.  It was not a usual position for them but he found it was helpful to make her orgasm if he could get her leg high enough. He forgot about the belly in the way, hindering any such movement. The acrobatics of their former sex life would not all be possible. 

  
For as slightly awkward as it started, she could not have felt more safe, more loved as she did with him above her. Their usual love-making with him below her, her astride his thighs, was not possible at this stage of her pregnancy. He knelt up right on his knees, placing one hand on her backside and the other moved to her sex, hoping with a bit of stimulation they would finish together. 

  
His thumb found her clitoris quickly and she cried out at the new sensation. 

  
"Oh my God, Jesus Mulder!" 

  
The timer on the oven sounded and he gave her an amused look, his lips pursed and smiling. He pulled back and began thrusting with purpose while continuing to work the bundle of nerves at the base of her sex. 

  
The familiar tingle in her belly signaled her orgasm was building and she cried out. His pace kept steady and she could do nothing in this position but to hold onto the pillow at her head and enjoy him inside her. She moved one hand to her breast and played with the milky flesh. Mulder took notice and a grunt left his throat. A sharp tingling at her cervix and a tightening in her belly meant she was close. 

  
"Scully, you feel so good. God, I'm gonna....Oh God....I'm gonna come..." he warned and apparently hearing that was enough to push her over the edge.

  
Her tight walls clenched down and massaged his cock. He thrust three more times into her before joining her in mutual euphoria.

  
Scully tried to turn from her side to her back but with the belly and Mulder's arms on either side of her, it proved to be slightly difficult.

  
"Different but good," he said, kissing her shoulder.

  
"Good?" She repeated. Good was an adjective she would not used to describe what just transpired on her queen-sized mattress.

  
"It was incredible, actually," he whispered, kissing the sensitive spot at the base of her neck. "Really, actually fantastic."

  
Scully nodded and pushed on his arm a bit. It was incredible, fantastic and good. Why did she feel like crying?

  
In an attempt to hide her impending tears she closed her eyes and put her hand over her face.

 

"Scully? Did I hurt you? Is it the baby?" Mulder had pulled out of her and was now kneeling in front of her on the bed. He tugged on her arm in an attempt to see her face. "Scully?"

  
"I don't know why I'm crying," she said wiping away a tear.

 

"Is the baby-"

 

"The baby is fine, Mulder," she said, sniffling. "I just felt really sad, all of a sudden. Not regretful for what we did, just sad."

 

Mulder could not have been more shocked with this open expression of emotion than if she had told him she wanted to name the baby Walter.

  
"You feel sad," he repeated. He took a chance it wasn't his presence that had made her feel sad and he pulled her into his arms and kissed her head. "What would make you feel better?"

  
The timer on the oven sounded and they both looked toward her bedroom door.

  
"Uh, I don't want the bread to  burn, hold on." He slipped on his boxer shorts and padded to the kitchen. She could hear the oven doors open and close, some dishes moving around and another timer being set. She used the opportunity to clean herself up in the bathroom and put on her robe. He still had the oven mitt on when he returned. 

  
"Hi."

  
She smiled at his attire. "Hi."

  
"Are you okay?" He asked and she nodded twice. "Okay well I have a really nice dinner on the stove. Why don't we eat and you can tell me more about this lamaze class?"

  
******


	3. Baltimore

  
Rain was pouring down on the streets of Washington, for another soggy spring day and the lobby of the Hoover building was littered with wet floor signs as janitors tried to keep the tiles slip free.

  
Last year she might have worried she would slip and fall on her ass on those floors, as she was determined to wear her three in platform chunky heels as long as they were in the office. In the field she had a shorter heels as well as her boots that were available to be subbed out at any moment. But in the dark confines of the basement office, she had heels that helped her look Fox Mulder in the eye. By the middle of her second trimester, she started to opt for the lower shoe and Agent Doggett was gentlemanly enough not to point that out. 

  
As she rounded the corner to the basement, briefcase in hand, keys in the other she noted Agent Doggett was already there. 

 

"Good morning, Agent Scully," he greeted s she entered, not looking up from his case file. "How are you feeling today?"

 

"I'm fine, Agent Doggett, how are you?" She sometimes said she felt tired or she was feeling good but lately, since Mulder's return, the word 'fine' popped into her vocabulary again.

 

"I'm good, I spent the weekend camping with an old Army buddy and his son," he shared. She knew he had lost his son a few years back and wondered if spending time with children was as hard on him as being around kids had been on her after Emily. "His son is 16 now, so you can imagine how thrilled he was to be camping in the woods with no technology with two old farts like us but it turned out to be okay."

  
Sometimes John would show up on weekends to help her with things around her apartment such as changing light bulbs, hanging pictures, and picking up baby furniture from stores she liked and putting them together for her. 

  
She stopped herself from asking him why he felt the need to do such things as he fixed a leaky pipe in her bathroom early on in their partnership, before he found out about her pregnancy. It was a Saturday and she was drinking a tea that helped with her morning sickness. She watched him skillfully tighten the wrench, recalling how Mulder was the kind of man who would cause a flood. Moments like that, while he was missing, would go through her mind and she felt sad then confused how to proceed with someone like John Doggett. She had mentioned she needed to call a plumber and there he was, calling her Dana, outside the office, eating her food and fixing her pipes. 

  
It wasn't romantic or gesturing toward anything more than friendship. At least she hadn't picked up on that from him. 

  
If it had been Mulder she had mentioned the plumber to, even while they were 'dating,' he would have nodded, comfortable with throwing money at the problem rather than getting his hands dirty. 

  
Dana Scully wondered if John Doggett helping her around her home was a distraction for him as much as it was just an innocent act of kindness. He wasn't the kind of man who would make her feel bad about helping her out, nor did he seem to mention such things around the office to her or anyone else unless he was following up on something such as the crib assembly. 

  
Mulder looked solemnly at the crib last night, as though John putting it together for her was the same as fucking her new partner in their office, with the 'I WANT TO BELIEVE' poster above them. 

  
"Agent Scully?" Doggett interrupted her thoughts. "Are you all right?"

  
"Sorry... I just..."

  
"My wife used to space out constantly around her third trimester," he offered. "I was just asking if you had to kick off early today."

  
"No, my lamaze class isn't until seven," she replied and picked up the file he had recently discarded on his desk. "Are you planning to look into that?"

 

Agent Doggett turned cool blue eyes to the file she was holding. "There's something there worth checking into."

 

Scully read the files brief account of what claimed poltergeists taking place in a suburb of Baltimore. "This is just an hour away in Baltimore. We could drive out there today if you wanted to touch base with local authorities."

 

Agent Doggett nodded and grabbed his coat and umbrella. "I'll drive."

  
*****

 

As they drove along in Scully's car on the I-95, she put the file down for the third time, trying to subdue a wave of nausea that overcame her.

  
"Are you feeling all right, Dana?" His voiced was filled with concern, dropping the professional tone he used while they were in the office or around colleagues. 

  
"Can you pull over?" She asked weakly and he pulled off on the shoulder of the exit 53. 

  
Surprisingly quick for a pregnant woman, she was out of the car and holding onto the trunk with one hand as she prepared herself to lose the cheesy scrambled eggs and toast Mulder made for her that morning. A few moments passed and she stood up, the wave of nausea passing as quickly as it came. Agent Doggett came around the back of the car with ginger-ale.

 

"Where did you get this?" She asked as she took a sip of the bubbly liquid.

 

"You've been sick enough times I started putting one in my go bag when we have a road trip," he explained, hands on his hips and a wry smile playing on his mouth. He glanced upwards at the sky, the rain had halted temporarily but could very well pick up again soon. "We should get going if you're feeling better. I don't want to show up in Baltimore in a wet suit."

 

"Thank you, John," she swallowed a bit more of the ginger-ale and climbed back in the car. 

  
When they arrived in Baltimore they drove straight to the precinct of contact. Detective Jeremy Welles was sitting at his desk, leaning back in his Windsor office chair at a dangerous angle. His spiky, blonde hair and purposed five-o'clock shadow at 10 am was probably to make him seem less clean cut yet his chiseled features made him look like a specimen out of the Sears catalog. 

  
Detective Welles gave Agent Scully an unabashed once-over, taking in her small stature and rounded stomach before his eyes darting up to Agent Doggett. It happened enough times when she had to venture upstairs to Skinner's office, meeting with other agents or consult on a file. Her belly had 'popped' at five months and since then, she had longed for the days when men and women wondered if she was just gaining a little weight or something else was going on. The attention still made her feel uncomfortable but she was not the type to step behind Agent Doggett and allow a few roaming eyes to shake her.

  
"Let me guess, FBI," Detective Welles greets as he stands up, meeting Agent Doggett's 6'1" with ease. He looks down at Agent Scully and extends his hand. "Jeremy Welles."

  
"I'm Dana Scully, this is John Doggett," she introduced. "We were requested involvement from your captain."

  
"I know my captain thinks that these kids are telling the truth about they've seen but I am telling you, there's nothing in that park besides a few homeless and some ducks." Detective Welles might have well been saying 'fuck off, go home, it's not paranormal' but he said it the most professional manner he could muster, under the circumstances.

  
Many of the precincts they visited had different amenities depending on the neighbourhood they were in. For the refurbished building, the older style office chairs seemed out of place however she had seen enough police stations to know that if the detectives weren't sitting behind new desks on cushy chairs, they probably drove newer cars than the FBI fleet sedans or their break room had just installed a nice coffee maker.  Perhaps lumbar support wasn't a priority.

  
"Do you have a room we can sit down to go over the case?" Agent Doggett requested. 'Ten minutes of your time and if after you give us the details, my partner can look over the autopsy results and we can be on your way."

  
"Autopsy results?" Detective Welles looked warily at the two. 

  
"I'm a medical doctor," Scully offered. "And I have worked on cases of the paranormal, claimed or otherwise, for the last eight years. Before driving up here from Washington, your Captain assured us we would be extended full courtesy. So, is there a room for us to use?"

  
Detective Welles picked up two files off his desk and showed the Agents to a small conference room off the main bullpen. He dropped the two manila folders on the metal table and sat on one side of the table. 

  
Chivalry had apparently died in Baltimore since her last extended stay here.

  
Agent Scully sat down across from Detective Welles and opened the file containing the autopsy results. Nothing she hadn't seen before. 

  
"It says here the body was found three blocks from Druid Hill, why were you looking at the park?" Scully said, looking up from the file.

  
"At the time we believed that our John Doe was a transient man from the area," the young detective explained. 

  
"Do a lot of your transient folk sleep in the park?" Agent Doggett inquired. "Baltimore in March can't be too ideal for camping out there."

  
"There's a zoo and some trails. Some of the older work sheds have been turned into heated huts for some of the homeless people during the less favourable seasons. It's a pet project by some students at UMD," Welles described. "Instead of arresting some of the regulars for vagrancy, the patrol cops that tour through the park try to ensure they haven't crammed too many of them in there."

  
It was common knowledge that a lot of police officers looked at the homeless as they did an infestation of rats or other pests. Some had the decency not to repeat such opinions but Detective Welles probably thought he was among like-minded company.

  
Agent Scully had never on the street as a police officer and the interaction she had with homeless people while working her rotation at the ER in med school, she tried to see the person, not the problem.

  
"Right, well, the folks we talked to had witnessed the 'phenomenon' the night before and claimed the 'ghost' trashed some of the huts," Detective Welles used air quotes to display his annoyance with this case that was obviously a waste of his precious time. "So they moved to one of the houses in Woodberry for shelter where the John Doe, now identified as Paul Ruskin, aka Rusky, was 'thrown' across the construction site and decapitated."

 

Agent Doggett looked up from the initial report to Scully and let out a long breath. The bureau wouldn't pay $68 a night per agent for them to stay the night in Baltimore, when the agents could spend two hours a day in a shared vehicle for $35 dollars a day. This meant they would be expected to have some long days ahead of them. 

 

"Can we meet with the pathologist," Agent Scully scanned the paper for the name of the doctor who performed the autopsy. "Doctor Lombard?"

 

"I can call over to the morgue, make sure she's in this morning," Detective Welles replied, standing from his chair and stretching lazily. "She is suffering from the same medical condition as Agent Scully so she's a little spotty with her attendance."

  
Detective Welles meant it to be a joke however it was in poor taste. If Mulder were there, he might be inclined to act stupid to the lame joke so that he would have to elaborate. John Doggett was of a different cloth when it came to Dana Scully; protective sometimes, friendly in others.

 

"Detective, can I speak with you outside for a moment?" Agent Doggett snapped.

 

The detective shuffled out of the room slowly and Agent Doggett shut the door quietly, leaving Scully inside the room, unable to hear what they were saying. They were the same height but the exchange between the two men left the young policeman feeling a little short.

 

When they came back into the conference room she was fuming. She certainly hoped he wasn't lecturing Jeremy Welles or sharing information that wasn't pertinent to the case.

 

"I'm, uh, going to call over to the morgue now, Agent Scully,"  Welles informed her and then left quickly. 

 

Scully came around to the doorway to watch the detective place a call from his desk. "I certainly hope you didn't-"

 

Agent Doggett interrupted her thought before she could continue her lecture. "I just told him a little respect for his colleagues, no matter gender, and work attendance would be appreciated, forthwith."

 

Scully ducked her head slightly and looked back up towards his eyes, knowing if he was fibbing a crinkle would form around the corner. She had witnessed it when they interrogated suspects and realized if she ever played poker with the man, he might very well know her 'tells' as well. No crinkle appeared and she nodded. "Okay, thank you."

  
"Let's go meet with the pathologist," Doggett suggested and held his arm out her to lead the way. 

 

********

 

As they sat in the car on the way back from Baltimore, Scully checked her watch for the third time. 

 

Dr Lombard called them before they were able to leave the precinct and scheduled for them to meet with her the following day so they spent the day trying to track down eye witnesses and walking through the park. It was a slow going day that went surprisingly long.

  
"It's still 6:15, Agent Scully." Agent Doggett had noted that she was obviously anxious to get back to Georgetown. 

  
"I have to drop you off at the office and fill out the mileage report then I still need to get home to change and then get to the hospital for the class," she explained her agitation. 

  
"Maybe we will get lucky and the highway will be clear," he said with a laugh.

 

"I should call Mulder and let him know I'm running late," Scully searched her pockets for her cell phone. 

 

"Is Mulder coming with you to the classes?" Agent Doggett asked, trying to hide his tone of surprise but obviously failing. 

 

"Yes, he uh, we agreed he would come... um..."  _Why was it so difficult for her to tell him?_

 

"Hey that's great!" John tried saving the conversation to lulling into an uncomfortable silence as it did when the topic of Scully and Mulder came up.

 

There was the underlying emotion of Doggett insinuating Mulder went through a lot of the secretaries in the bureau pool while hiding information from her. That was a ploy to get her to talk but at times, the memory of their first discussion replayed in her mind. Doggett often wondered if she had mentioned the conversation to Mulder or if she had let it lie where it was. 

 

"Well, uh, he wants to be involved..."

 

The car grew uncomfortably silent. She had all but just told John Doggett the paternity of her child, something that had not come up nor discussed since he found her at the army base after the 'incident' with Mary Hendershot.

  
After what felt like an hour, but was only a painful five minutes, Agent Doggett cleared his throat. "I can fill out the mileage report and take you to the hospital if Mulder wants to meet us there with clothes for you."

  
Scully nodded and tried to imagine how she could describe what she needed from Mulder, who was possibly waiting outside her apartment.

  
"Thank you." Scully dug her phone out from her bag and began to dial Mulder's new cell number.

 

He answered on the third ring, "Hey Scully, I was wondering where you were."

 

"We are on our way back from Baltimore," she explained. "I need you to grab some things from my apartment for me and meet me at the hospital for the class. Agent Doggett is going to drive me there and I'll have to get my car from him after the class."

 

"What kind of things?" Mulder's tone hinted at worry and she could see his 'panic face.'

  
"Just some more comfortable pants and a sweater, if you don't mind," she described. 

  
"Oh shoot, I thought you were going to have me dig around in your underwear drawer on request," Mulder teased.

  
"Mulder, I'm in a car," Scully reminded him, trying to maintain a businesslike tone.

  
Mulder laughed and Doggett tried to hear anything but the intimate exchange of the former partners, now lovers and parents on the phone. It was awkward. That's all there was to it.

  
"Okay, can you get that blue sweater from my closet," she started.

  
"Hold on, let me get inside the apartment," Mulder said and she could hear his keys jingling and her front door opening and closing. "Okay, I'm taking off my shoes and going into your room."

  
For a minute all she heard was breathing and Scully desperately wished that he would hurry the fuck up. Recognizing that her pregnancy hormones were making her unnecessarily annoyed with him, she took a deep breath herself but the emotion went no where.

  
"You want a blue sweater," he prompted.

  
"It's the one next to the grey jacket," she described. "It has ruching on the sides." 

  
Describing her clothing in front of John Doggett to Mulder was probably her new least favourite activity and she had to stand inside of an elephant carcass once. 

  
"Okay, one blue sweater. What pants?"

  
"Um, the leggings I was wearing Sunday afternoon," she said and her face suddenly grew hot.

  
"Where are they?" He asked looking around her room.

  
If the conversation could have been held telepathically she would have changed her theories on the topic to believe in such phenomenon and wished the ability upon herself. If it were possible for her to teleport herself into her apartment to gather her clothing herself, she would have also wished for science to leap forward and create such technology. 

  
Alas, it was 2001 and she was stuck in her Buick sedan with her partner, having what could only be the strangest of all conversations. Maybe if Mulder could suddenly long for the ability to summon her presence however he would probably argue as fast as she would apparate, she would just as quickly disapparate. 

  
She hoped if she stayed silent long enough she wouldn't have to describe the possibilities of where and how her leggings were missing over the phone. As much as there was a feeling of friendship between her and John Doggett, there was a sense of competition between Mulder and him. 

  
Mulder was no longer working in his office on his files with his partner. His fucking name wasn't even on the door anymore after Kersh declined his return to the department. 

  
"I found them!" Mulder declared and unfolded them from their crumpled state from being stuffed at the end of a bed overnight. "Maybe not these leggings, Scully."

  
"In the bottom drawer of the dresser is another pair exactly like those and please put the ones from yesterday in the hamper," she instructed,trying to keep her voice as calm as possible. Was he doing this on purpose?

  
"We are going to meet you at the hospital in Georgetown, I will see you in thirty minutes." Scully hung up her cell phone and looked at the device she was clutching in her hands. 

  
The cabin of the car hung in cacophony silence. It was so much more uncomfortable than when he drove her home from the hospital after he cut out a messiah-worm from her neck. It was more awkward than when he found her at Mulder's apartment sleeping with a worn shirt under the guise of 'feeding his fish.'  But possibly not as uncomfortable when he showed up at her apartment thirty minutes early to take her to the airport and she answered the door in a bathrobe and wet hair. She apologized for oversleeping and he attempted not to let on that her robe wasn't tied properly, giving her new partner more than a hint of flesh. 

 

"Uh, Dana?" 

 

"Yes," she closed her eyes and looked out her window. Lord help her.

 

"We aren't going to make it to the hospital," he pointed out as the car came to  a stop. The highway traffic had stopped moving as cars idled around them.  

  
Scully contemplated having Agent Doggett call Mulder back to inform him of the situation however she merely sat there, stewing in her hormonal mess. She had prided herself to maintain a cool exterior through most of her adult life. Being pregnant however did not always allow for that to happen. 

  
Last week she saw a pampers commercial and she became a sobbing mess. 

  
"Okay," she acknowledged their current state and took a calming breath.

  
"Who needs lamaze? You're getting lots of practice with calming breaths right here! Just do a few more of those, and you'll be pushing little J Edgar out no problem."

  
Scully looked at John like he had grown a third head.

  
"Not funny?"

 

"I find your candor in birthing to be confusing. Did your wife have an easy delivery?" She hated to ask about Luke but he was offering her a lot of personal information regarding the matter lately. 

  
John laughed. "No, she was in labour for thirty six hours and delivered after five hours of pushing. The doctors wanted to go in and get him out but Barb was sure she could do it. I think it's a miracle women have more than one child after all that. Your mom should be sainted." 

  
"My mom?" Scully asked.

  
"Four kids, right?" John clarified and she nodded, understanding what he meant. "What's the age gap on you guys?"

  
"I think we are fourteen months apart," she recalled. "Fourteen to sixteen months apart."

 

John shook his head at that and she smiled herself. "Well your parents were either crazy or they should be sainted."

 

"Perhaps what we call crazy is what was once thought to be a saint," she mused out loud, finding her mood had calmed considerably. John Doggett was good at distraction and then wondered if that was another trick he learned from living with his wife during her pregnancy. 

 

"Speaking to God..."

 

"You're not crazy if you talk to God. The worry is when God answers back."

  
Scully turned more towards Doggett in the car. "Isn't that what faith is?"

  
"I don't know. I grew up in a baptist community where everyone was hearing God speak to them through snakes or the radio. I take all that stuff with a grain of salt."

  
Scully's phone rang again and she was able to dig it out of her purse before it went to voicemail. "Scully."

  
"Hey Scully, uh, it's me," Mulder spoke hesitantly. "Uh, so I saw on the traffic report that the highway coming back from Baltimore is a parking lot."

  
"Has there been an accident?" She asked sitting more straight in her seat. 

  
"Yeah, just a minor one but because there were four vehicles involved and a semi they're saying things should be clear within the hour." The sound of a radio report cackled in the background behind him and she wondered if he was in the hospital parking lot or outside her apartment. "We won't make it tonight."

  
"I suppose not," she said, hoping she sounded more relaxed. "I'll call you when I get back."

  
"Sure, or I could wait for you there," he suggested. 

  
"Okay, bye," she hung up the phone quickly again. 

  
For some reason, talking on the phone with Mulder in front of Doggett always felt strange. The way Doggett regarded her and treated her was with the utmost respect and she did to him. They were a good team, they had solved cases in a way Kersh approved of. And the interactions between the former partners were a clue for Doggett how to move forward with Scully. Except it wasn't. 

  
It always came down to the fact that she was originally Mulder's partner. Working along side someone so closely in that basement office where no one came down, felt as though she had been married off to another. She was still trying to figure out how to have both.

 

*******


	4. Dinner

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all your positive feedback, friends. I have had two babies so please, before you argue maybe some of this isn't possible, I can assure you it all is.

****

 

It was seven thirty by the time she dropped Doggett back at the Hoover building and head back to Georgetown. Her apartment smelled heavenly, like curried spices and butter. 

 

"What is that?" She called out, discarding her jacket and keys at the front door.

  
Mulder appeared around the corner, wearing an apron she got as a joke from the Gunmen three years ago. "I made chicken curry and rice."

  
"You made it?" She asked incredulously, looking round the kitchen for signs of take out containers or a receipt from their favouite Indian place. 

  
"There was a cooking segment on the Today show, this morning." Mulder held a jar of mango chutney up to show her. "I didn't have enough time so I bought chutney."

  
Scully smiled. "That sounds great."

  
This part with Mulder was easy. The part where global conspiracies and other partners didn't come into play. When Mulder stopped looking for Samantha, a shift happened within him. His quest had changed. Being with him on down time actually felt like they weren't searching but they were two people who loved and cared for one another. 

  
Things had progressed for them over the last few years and slowly became aware long before he ever kissed her that she could never be with anyone else. Yet the thought of them as more than FBI partners, colleagues, and friends had thrown her off guard. Everything they saught for could be derailed by sex. She tried to prove to herself that she didn't feel that way, to run from it. The father figure she once saw in him was replaced by a feeling that she was his equal. His respect for her was as much as a turn on as his soulful eyes when they asked her for help. 

  
For a while she was determined not to let anything happen, to not be his consolation prize for losing his sister and second place to Diana. When they started talking more, and they spent some down time together, he told her as much many times he couldn't imagine his life without her. The insecurities that he was doing anything out of guilt or duty lingered at times in the beginning but she got over that after he told her he had been in love with her for years and the fact that she felt the same way was a huge relief. 

  
Registering the look of shock on her face, he explained things that happened with Diana, the dream he had when he was kidnapped and operated on, was not what he would call his perfect life. He knew deep down then that his sister, Deep Throat and X were all dead but he needed to hear from them that he wasn't responsible for their demise. Sometimes the boy who 'lost' his sister at age twelve was still very much alive and well within a man who had also come to know heartache and grief.

  
As she reentered her kitchen, dressed in the leggings and sweater Mulder had collected for her, then smartly put back on her bed when they weren't going to make it to lamaze, she came up behind him and wrapped her arms around him. As much as she could with a basketball between them.

  
"Hey," he said softly and patted her hand so he could turn in her arms. "How are you feeling?"

  
"Do they reccomend men to ask pregnant women that question in some sort of 'so you're going to be a dad' handbook?" Scully asked, resting her head on his chest.

  
Mulder chuckled. "I'm not allowed to talk about it. But I can tell you that I've been advised to increase my quota on back rubs and foot massages."

  
That didn't sound like a bad deal to Scully, since her lower back, shoulders and feet seemed to bother her daily and she wasn't allowed to sit in a hot bath for too long anymore. 

  
"If this dinner tastes as good as it smells then I will let you off the hook from telling me who actually cooked this but if it's terrible we are ordering pizza and you have to rub my feet for an hour." Scully held up a manicured finger. "Deal?"

  
Mulder smiled and placed a quick kiss on the top of her head. "My secrets are safe, Scully. I can't tell you where I got the recipe but I tried a bit before you came home. This is good stuff."

  
Reluctantly she moved herself from his arms and took two plates down from the cupboard. "Two nights in a row, Mulder. I thought you would have called out for pizza or thai tonight."

  
"Baby cravings for pizza?" Mulder inquired.

  
"Just a really cute pizza guy," Scully explained and smiled secretly.

  
The panic look on Mulders face was priceless and she couldn't stop the giggle from erupting out of her.

  
Two hours later as they lay on her bed, bellies full of yellow curry chicken, naan bread, mango chutney and jasmine rice, Mulder worked on the muscles between Scully's shoulders.

  
"What was in Baltimore?" Mulder asked as he pulled on the strap of her nightgown down to place a few kisses there. 

 

"Eye witnesses report seeing a poltergeist between a five block radius spanning from Druid Hill Park and a neighbourhood in Woodberry," Scully replied, her eyes feeling as though they were getting heavy.  "Mmmmmm that's good."

  
"A poltergeist?" Mulder asked as his skilled thumbs moved down her back to her shoulder blades. "Objects moving and noises being reported?"

  
"Oh! Right there...." Scully arched her back at the sensation of a muscle she wasn't aware needed to be worked on. "Oh... yeah.... Um, they claim the victim was thrown thirty feet and decapitated."

  
Mulder kissed the back of her neck and moved one hand toward her belly, his fingers gathering the hemline of the nightgown. "Thirty feet?"

  
"Yes, we measured the space today. It's a row of townhouses under construction and some transients were sleeping in during the last cold snap," Scully replied and moved her hand between them to cup him through his sweatpants. "I like the yellow pajama pants better, just to clarify."

  
Mulder took the opportunity to start to pull her panties slowly down with one hand while the other cupped her breast. "Why's that?" 

  
"Easier access," she whispered and slowly turned herself on the bed. "Do you want to keep asking me about the case or maybe you can drive out to Baltimore tomorrow to consult with us on this?"

  
"Scully, if Kersh finds out I'm hanging around you and Agent Doggett on duty I might as well cancel any plans I have to get back to the X-Files," he reminded her, his body to ready to make love but his mind attempting to focus on the case. "I need to get back to that office and if Kersh is determined to put me on desk duty, I might as well hand over my gun and badge now."

  
"And do what?" She asked, her face suddenly full of concern. 

  
"There are things we still want answers to," he sighed. "But when the baby comes, you are going to have more important things to worry about. I don't want anything to come before that."

 

She kissed his lips softly while she pulled at the hemline of his shirt. "If things keep going as they are, you won't have to make that choice. There will be a vacancy in the office. He has to reinstate you to the X-Files. The department needs you as much as you need it to keep looking for answers."

 

"We can cross those bridges if it comes to that," he whispered. "I won't leave you again."

 

"I can't live without you again, Mulder. But I would rather you safe and not here than not at all," she said.

 

Mulder, who had been working on getting his sweatpants and shorts off stopped his movements. "Scully?"

 

"If there was something else we had to be scared of, if you had to leave or it meant you in prison or dead, why wouldn't you go? We can fight injustice, Mulder. We can find somewhere for us to hide. I can't think of you not safe." 

  
"Isn't that supposed to me my line?" He asked with a grin before his face turning serious. "I know what you're getting at. You want to know before you let yourself really fall in love with me again that I won't get myself killed if anything goes awry."

  
"Fall back in love with you?" She spit the words out as though it was distasteful for him to think that she had stopped.

 

In his mind, she had a new partner, continued her work and carried a baby for 7 months. Her life kept going. He didn't know that it did out of necessity, not out of some brave strength or ability.

  
The air feeling in the bedroom had turned from anticipation to tension. This was not the first time theories and countering arguments got in the way of sex. After Scully's excursion with CGB Spender he was so mad at her but happy that she was alive that they had what was possibly the angriest sex she had ever had in her lifetime. She didn't know that was possible to feel that kind of passion and fear and need at the same time. It was uncharacteristic of them to allow things to spill over to the bedroom but she knew it wouldn't be the only time and obviously, it wasn't the last. 

 

If she were to say they were a couple, it would sound strange and almost as juvenile as calling Mulder her boyfriend. 'A couple of what?' He would tease as if it was easier not to label their relationship. 

  
Calling him her partner felt more complete. They were no longer official partners with the bureau but in life, he had become the one other she identified herself with. She wasn't Scully without Mulder, and while he was missing and after they had found him, her life pushed forward as one grew inside of her, but it was a life she did not want to have without him. 

  
Mulder flopped onto his back, his erection still tenting in his sweatpants, and folded his hands under his head. "Scully, can we put a pin in it?"

  
She folded her legs to sit cross legged and straightened her posture. She pulled her nightgown on over her head but her sex remained exposed, her panties had a habit of disappearing during their love making and usually required a full search of the bedroom before being located the last place she expected like under a pillow, at the foot of the bed, or under a bedside table.

  
"What am I to you?" She asked him hoping that now he was out of the bureau he might actually put a label on it without wincing or cracking a joke. 

  
"Everything." He stated it simply like she was asking him if he drank coffee or drove a car.

  
"So what do you call me to people?" She asked, trying to get more out of him than a vague declaring statement of admiration.

  
Normally, this kind of conversation, this declaration of what they were would all be silly and only done for couples who didn't know where they stood. But she had a point and she wanted to drive it home.

  
"You're... well I don't want to state the obvious as though calling you the mother of my child is silly because you're not just that. And the word girlfriend is silly because to me, a girlfriend can simply not be your girlfriend if you stop wanting her to be or vice versa. You're..." he thought for a moment. "You're mine? Not in a possession sort of way!" He quickly added when he saw her face. "To me you're what a life-partner would be. No ceremony took place but I can't see my life without you in it, as my friend, as someone I work with and as someone I consider a lover, I guess that would be another word to choose. But you're not just a lover. You're everything. I'll do anything I can to ensure that."

  
She took a wavering breath. It was exactly as she felt about him, gender roles reversed. 

 

"Can you understand then, that if something threatened you again, I would rather have you not with me than here and in danger?" Scully wasn't able to imagine losing him again. But she knew that there were forces out there that tried to drive wedges between them.

 

"Yes!" Mulder hit the mattress and stood up, his hands on his hips. "Goddammit Scully, don't ask me to do that!"

  
"I need to know that if shit hits the fan, you'll protect yourself!" She shouted back. She attempted to take a calming breath. "Just say you will."

  
"You first," he challenged.

  
"What?"  

  
"Tell me that if things get dangerous for you, that you will keep both of you safe, whether its together or-"

 

She realized what he was insinuating. "Mulder, don't."

  
Scully climbed off the bed to find her bathrobe and donned a new pair of panties she grabbed from her dresser. 

  
"Don't what? You disappearing is as the same as asking me to do it," he declared, following her around the room. The familiar way he would invade her space to prove his point was maddening at this stage of her pregnancy. "Why are you trying to push me away? Stop preparing for me to take off! I'm not leaving."

  
"Leave me alone," she threw the words over her shoulder and padded to the kitchen.

 

Mulder, not being one to follow instruction, closed the gap between them and grabbed her arm.

 

"Leave. Me. Alone."

  
His grip was firm on her flesh and his face was tight with emotion. A stiff arm, bend in a way to keep him from getting too close, struggled between them. 

  
"Goddammit Mulder, you're hurting me!" She cried out, trying again to rip her arm from his grasp.

  
It was a lie, he knew. The grasp on her arm was strong and tight but he wasn't holding her to inflict pain, but to keep her still and from moving from him. 

  
"Am I?" He asked, not releasing her arm. "Am _I_ hurting _you_?"

 

She looked up at him through her lashes, her arm still in his strong grip, between them. The standoff could have been thirty seconds or thirty minutes. 

  
Her lip quivered and he pressed his mouth to hers, capturing her cry within his own breath. Tongues sliding against one another, hands clawing at clothing. Her bathrobe was discarded on the kitchen table. His sweatpants and boxers were at his ankles as she stroked the smooth skin of his cock with her soft and skilled hands. Suddenly he turned her around so her hands gripped the counter, his fingers tore at her panties and he thrust himself into her.

  
"Oh, Jesus!" His breathed through gritted teeth. "You feel so good."

  
Scully let out a long moan and she whimpered as he pulled half way out and thrust back into her. This was not the kind of sex they normally had. Their passion was always tender and quiet, sweet and strong. This was fucking. 

  
_Did committed partners, expecting a baby fuck like this?_ She wondered. _Apparently so._

 

He held one hand to her breast while the other kept on her hip. At this angle he knew she could climax and he was certain he could wait for her. There were no more words, just the sounds of their moans and deep breaths as he continued his movements.

  
Her orgasm began to build and she let out a weak grunt. "Uhn... Mullll."

 

"That's it," he encouraged as he continued thrusting hard inside her. 

 

Last night he worried his movements could hurt the baby, that sex would be bad for her because she hasn't had the easiest of pregnancies. However some time on WebMD, a trip to a walk-in clinic and a look over Scully's medical file today allowed him the confidence to keep his pace.

 

This was the kind of sex they had after a harrowing case before leaving the motel. This was the kind of sex they had when he finally found her after disappearing with CGB. This was the kind of sex that made them both sleep solidly for 8 hours and wake up sore and happy. 

  
Her walls gripped down on him, hard like he had held her before and he stilled himself, allowing her to feel him fully inside her as her orgasm washed over her body. Flush and full of life. Round and firm.

  
Mulder reached around to her center and pressed firmly on her clitoris. Scully shrieked and rode out another orgasm as he came inside her. 

 

  
*********

 

Mulder lay in bed with Scully between his legs, his skilled hands working her neck muscles. The light from the bedside lamp filled the room with a low yellow glow and a mountain of pillows were collected around them as they lay in bed together.

  
"This would be more fun in a bubble bath," he declared.

  
Scully looked over her shoulder at him. "I'm not allowed to sit in a hot bath for too long."

  
"I know, I read that chapter today in the baby book." He placed a few kisses on her neck and allowed her to move onto her side. His body spooned behind hers perfectly, as though when they were born God knew they would fit together like puzzle pieces.

  
"I'm sorry," she murmured.

  
"I want more than anything to be here, Scully. Please don't suggest that I shouldn't be." The timber of his voice told her enough that she knew he was serious. He would stay even to his detriment.

  
"What about Baltimore?" She asked.

  
"Call me if you have any questions. I'm not on the FBI clock until next week," he said. "Let's get some sleep."

  
It came to her quickly. The events of the day taking its toll on her as well as their emotional evening. 

  
In the back of her mind she knew that if the worst did happen, she would need to find an argument to support him leaving, disappearing so he would be safe. It had to be him not all of them together. For the time being.


	5. Cypress

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who is reading and sending in such wonderful feedback!
> 
> Chapter six has been started and I hope to have it posted by Friday.

  
Agent Doggett waited patiently outside the Chief Medical Examiner's office with Agent Scully and Detective Welles while Doctor Lombard finished her morning meeting with the other coroners and staff. The OCME was a bright new office building with state of the art equipment and a busy staff. They processed every autopsy in the Baltimore area with great efficiency under Dr Lombard.

   
The chief's maternity leave would start in three months and while she was only entitled to six weeks, the powers that be were concerned that six weeks would create a huge backlog of files. Productivity meetings were held every Tuesday to ensure the staff would be able to keep up the pace at which they were working in her absense.

   
Detective Welles made no secret that he thought the fuss over Dr Lombard's temporary leave was a waste of time. 

  
"Agent Scully, you were anxious to get home last night. Did you folks get stuck on the beltway?" Detective Welles was obviously not comfortable with prolonged silences as they waited in the hall of the OCME. 

  
Welles had observed Scully check her watch three times and remind Agent Doggett they needed to leave twice before they were able to get on the road. 

  
They had spent Monday at the crime scene, going over the reports and discussing whether it warranted further investigation. When they had decided they would come back for the week it was after five p.m.

  
"Yes, Detective," Scully confirmed. "We sat for a while."

  
"I can't believe the federal government would rather have you drive two hours every day than put you up in a hotel here," Welles stated while stifling a yawn. "Gaaaaaaad. Where is she?"

  
Scully and Doggett exchanged a look. AD Kersh had all but told the agents he wasn't concerned with their time spent in the car when they reported in before leaving for Baltimore that morning. Agent Doggett had tried to push for an overnight stay but Kersh had all but told them he didn't care if their time was wasted in the car since his view on the X-Files was that it all was a waste of time.  

  
The political maneuvering and ass-kissing that would need to occur for them to avoid angering Kersh wasn't entirely worth it and if he decided that signing off on the mileage reports they were going to file then so be it. 

  
"Must be a big Bush supporter," Doggett muttered as he started Scully's car that morning. She gave him a questioning look and he smiled that boyish grin he loved to throw her way when he was particularly thrilled with a joke he had made. "Big oil?"

  
Scully smiled, and not just to humour him. Spending seven years with Mulder had worn down her resistance to bad jokes and she found herself smiling at them more often. 

  
Since they had over an hour to spend in the car, John had inquired what her plans were for lamaze since it was going to be near impossible for them to ensure she was going to be home in time. 

  
"I might have to do the all-day class on Saturday if we wrap this up," she replied. "On one hand, I am glad we aren't staying in a crummy hotel in Baltimore but on the other hand I'm not enjoying the drive."

  
"Are you feeling sick?" He glanced over to Scully and then did a shoulder check to see if it was possible to get to the outside lane to pull over.

  
"No, I'm okay right now," she breathed. "I just have to avoid all breakfast foods."

  
"So spaghetti and meatballs in the morning?" He suggested with a laugh.

  
"I had curry chicken on jasmine rice and mango chutney," she told him, her mouth in a half frown, half smile that only she could pull off. He secretly thought of that as her 'oh no' face. "Cold."

  
John Doggett couldn't help it. He had to laugh. "That's impressive. I wouldn't think of a curry dish being any good any other temperature than hot, Dana."

  
"It wasn't bad, actually," she replied with a laugh of her own. "Made the baby kick all the drive in to work."

  
Doggett glanced down at her stomach and nodded. "So little J Edgar likes curry. I'll keep that in mind if we get stuck for ideas for lunch."

  
The drive in was relatively smooth and they met with Detective Welles at the OCME building on time, as planned. His demeanor from yesterday hadn't changed from being relatively annoyed with his presence being required to join them however he wasn't particularly pleased with the idea of them working the case alone either.

  
"Jeremy?" A woman in her mid thirties exited a large conference room with other pathologists and forensic investigators. It was still early in the morning and she was still in her office attire, dark pants and a maternity blouse under a white pathologists jacket. "What are you doing here?"

  
"I left a message for you yesterday," he reminded her. Their tone hinted more than professional acquaintance to Scully and she glanced up at her partner. "I told your assistant I was coming by about the 'poltergeist' case I got stuck with."

  
Scully cleared her throat and extended her hand. "Dr Lombard, I'm Special Agent Dana Scully, this is my partner Special Agent John Doggett. We wanted to look over the autopsy file and notes you had on Paul Ruskin."

  
"Just Ruskin?" Dr Lombard asked, tucking her hands in her lab coat pocket.

  
"Was there anyone else we should be concerned with?" Scully countered.

  
"I told Jeremy-" Lombard sighed in frustration and looked at Welles pointedly. "I _told_ you, there were three other cases."

  
Scully and Doggett turned to look at the detective. His gaze was focused on the petite blonde who was glaring back at him. 

  
"I did tell you," she repeated. "I told Detective Welles that there were three other cases of what eye witnesses stated was poltergeist activity with similar COD."

Dr Lombard started off down the hallway, leaving the agents and detective to follow her.  

  
"Doctor Lombard," Scully started.

  
"Jennifer."

  
"Jennifer," Scully restarted. "We would like to see every autopsy report you have from these related cases, as well as the report on Paul Ruskin."

  
Dr Lombard stopped at an office and turned to the agents. "I would be happy to share with you what Jeremy thinks is a _random_ occurrence of violence among the transient community. But if he actually spent any time with any of them, he would know the people that have been killed are not violent offenders."

  
"Just because our precinct hasn't arrested any of them before doesn't mean they're the most gentle of homeless drunks and mentally unstable-"

  
"Jeremy, spend ten minutes at the soup kitchen and I swear to God you would be singing a different tune!" Jennifer interrupted. "These are people that need our help, not our judgement. Paul Ruskin was not a violent offender! He was a man with depression and bouts of psychosis but when he was medicated, he was a helpful member of that aspect-"

  
"Don't say society, Jennifer, I swear-" Welles interrupted.

 

"Oh would you STOP!" Dr Lombard shouted and opened her office door, entering it with as much fury and speed as her shape would allow.   
There were a few people milling about in the hallway outside the medical examiner's office, all looking uncomfortable but curious at the exchange the FBI partners had sparked.

  
Eyebrows raised, Scully looked up at Doggett, who also wore a look of shock on his face. Neither of them tried to mask it since the professional niceties had been put aside from the coroner and detective were arguing in front of each other.

  
"Are you coming?" Dr Lombard snapped from inside her office.

  
Agent Doggett tapped Scully on the lower back, to usher her through the door. In all honesty, this whole exchange was shocking and felt as though they had been voyeurs on a lovers quarrel. 

  
Scully decided it would be better to press on, heightened emotions be damned and learn what Dr Lombard's supposed connection was.

  
"Jennifer, do you have the files you mentioned?" Scully asked.

  
"Sure, Agent Scully..." Dr Lombard pulled three files from a pile on her desk. "If you have any questions..."

  
"Agent Scully is a medical doctor," Doggett offered. "Our department of the FBI specializes in these types of phenomenon."

  
"I tried contacting someone named Fox Mulder when this first occurred and someone at the bureau told me he was dead," Dr Lombard replied, almost annoyed at the inconvenience of someone dying that would be of use to her.

  
"He's not dead, he's just not with the X-Files division of the bureau right now," Scully replied. 

  
"Well if he was dead and came back to life, I would like to see that file," she said, pulling out another folder from her desk. "These three files, plus the folder on Ruskin have similar COD. Decapitation. Blunt force trauma found in the extremities and torso."

  
Scully opened the file on Ruskin and began to read the thorough report Dr Lombard had approved. "It says here that no impact wounds were noted."

  
Dr Lombard sat down at her desk and rubbed a hand absently over her pregnant belly. "Right."

  
"As in the body was pulled against the wall, causing the trauma." Scully concluded.

  
"Yes." 

  
The two women held each other's gaze for a moment as though they were coming to the same scientific based report that neither of their medical and logic-based training would lead to. 

  
"So what you're saying..."

  
"I am a scientist, Agent Scully. I am a logical person. But I cannot ignore evidence found in a body. If it were a bullet, I could dig it out and tell you the make and model the gun that shot it was. There was no impact wounds on any of the bodies. That means there was nothing to indicate he was shoved. This body was pulled, not on the ground, and slammed against a wall." Dr Lombard shrugged her shoulders and ran her fingers through her short blonde hair. "I told all this to Jeremy two weeks before Paul Ruskin was murdered in a exactly the same fashion."

  
Doggett stepped closer to Scully to peruse the report for himself. "No alcohol or barbiturates were found in his system?"

  
His right arm reached around hers to flip up the page on the file underneath the one Scully was looking at and she tucked the page between her fingers. 

  
"No." Scully and Lombard said in unison.

  
"Okay well let's look at the construction site and see what's what," Doggett said, stepping away from Scully and putting his hands on his hips the way men do when they've made any kind of declaration of action.

  
"May I hold onto these for the time being?" Scully asked, holding up the Ruskin file.

  
"Sure, he has no next of kin we were able to locate," Dr Lombard replied.

  
Agent Doggett placed one of his cards on her desk, in front of her and took a card with her information from the small stand at the corner near her nameplate. "Both our numbers are on there. If we need to contact you while we are here..."

  
"My cell is on there." Dr Lombard replied.

 

*****

Once they got in the car to follow Welles to the construction site, Doggett couldn't help mentioning the exchange between the ME and detective to Scully.

  
"That fight..."

  
"I know," Scully agreed. "There's something more than a disagreement over the case. The way they argued about the transient men in the park was more than just two colleagues."

  
"I felt like i was back at a couples therapy session," Doggett joked as he followed behind Detective Welles.   
Scully kept the tidbit of 'back at couples therapy' under her hat and nodded at his observation. "She is pretty adamant that there's a connection to Ruskin's death."

  
"More than adamant. And I don't think it was hormones talking." Doggett said with a shake of his head. "After we visit the construction site and pick up the other case files, we should stop for lunch. Any cravings yet?"

  
Scully looked down at her belly as though the answer could possibly be written on the white pearl buttons of her maternity blouse. These were the interactions that she was accustomed to but they kept in private. He never treated her as anything else but a capable employee with all the markers of chivalry when it was appropriate. In private, he would allow her to be as open as she wished without pushing her boundaries. Even so, he had gotten under her skin, past her walls she had initially built up to protect herself from him, this outsider.

  
Yet through her first and second trimester, he was there. He was with her when she was sick in the mornings, he helped her after the ordeal with Mary Hendershot and he was with her the first time she felt the baby move.   At first she thought it was gas bubbles and she got up from her desk at the office to walk around. She visited the bathroom, no spotting and continued to move around the office with a concerned look on her face.

  
Doggett had learned about her pregnancy the week before and, like a scared cat, Scully was wary of him and slow to give her trust. But she had to trust someone.

  
"Agent Scully, you feeling all right?" He asked her, watching her look thoughtfully at nothing in particular but inquisitively as though she could see a problem that needed figuring out.

  
"Yeah, I'm... I'm fine I think," It was the first time she had really told him she wasn't.

  
"You think?" Doggett repeated. "Are you sick?"

  
Scully shook her head and moved her hand lower to her abdomen. As a doctor she knew that the initial signs of a baby's movement in first time mothers was hard to recognize but that did not make her any more an expert, have never gone through this experience to know the difference between a gas bubble and a baby's first kicks.

  
"Is the baby moving?" He asked and got up from his chair, keeping the five feet distance between them but standing at the ready.

  
Scully looked at him as though he was asking her if she preferred cotton or silk underwear. She felt uncomfortable and embarrassed to be experiencing what she thought was a private moment with an audience and he smiled.

  
"My wife said the first time she felt our son moving, she almost missed it," Doggett explained. "Like butterflies, like digestion but not as low."

  
Scully's face registered the description and nodded. Placing one hand below her navel she indicated the place of the movement. "Here."

  
"Wait until you lie down, you might be able to feel it from the outside," Doggett laughed and sat back down at his desk to continue his report. 

  
Scully cursed herself for not having more female friends with children to share the experience with. A few times she had discussed her symptoms with her mother, who was sympathetic and listened patiently. Yet her mother didn't understand a lot of what her life was now. Margaret Scully was patient, understanding however not fully capable to comprehend that Mulder was missing and not in the same way she was. They blame the government and men for Scully's disappearance and infertility and yet they had no one to point a finger at for the Mulder's absence.  So instead, she had her mother and her male partner who was relaying information he got from his ex wife almost ten years ago.

  
"Pizza?" Doggett suggested from the drivers seat. "Chinese? A salad?"

  
Scully looked up at her partner and grinned. "Baby hasn't told me yet. So far my stomach wants sandwiches."

  
"Let me know if that gets vetoed.  I did see a decent looking diner around the corner from the park yesterday," he said. "We can check it out before working anymore leads."

  
Scully nodded in agreement and glanced down at the map of the neighbourhood. Their search radius would be over ten blocks with the construction site being ground zero. Scully was grateful she had worn comfortable flats but the extent of a long day for her at this point was an autopsy in comfortable shoes. 

 

  
********

 

Part of the construction site was actually a home originally built in the 1940s that had been torn down to be turned into a row of townhouses. The property was prime real estate for the area of Baltimore and the investigation was holding up progress. Halted progress meant a stall on income for the developer. Welles, Scully and Doggett were waiting on more information on the property from the developer however none had been forthcoming.

  
"Cypress Properties is the company waiting for us to clear this as a crime scene," Detective Welles said as they approached from the curb where they parked. "The foreman, John Cypress is looking for us to clear the space so they can start up again."

  
Scully looked up at the site and was unsure if she wanted to walk around the half-constructed property. Cement forms had been used as the exterior frames and while the death took place in the end unit, none of the construction could continue until the entire scene was cleared by Baltimore PD and now the FBI. 

  
"Is the foreman in his office?" Scully asked, pointing to the trailer on the edge of the property. 

  
"He's expecting us." Detective Welles confirmed and they made their way up the stairs.

  
Detective Welles knocked, with Agents Doggett and Scully standing at the base of the stairs. "Mr Cypress!"

  
"Family owned business I take it," Doggett said, looking around and opened his notes. "John Cypress works for his brother Frank, who took over the business from their father. Frank is the younger brother."

  
Scully recognized this piece of information with raised eyebrows and pursed lips. 

  
Detective Welles knocked on the door again. "John Cypress, Baltimore PD."

 

Doggett climbed the stairs and peered in the window. "I see feet under the desk."

  
Detective Welles tried the handle. "The door is locked."

  
"Can you see anything else?" Scully asked Doggett.

  
Doggett climbed up one more stair so he was on the landing and craned his neck to see if he could see anything more through the small slit between the blinds and the windowsill.

  
"Anything?" Scully asked.

  
"I'm going to call Cypress Properties and see if someone can come down here to open the office for us," Doggett said, taking out his cell phone and began dialing the number listed on the sign.

  
Fifteen minutes later a pert, young woman in leggings, an oversized sweater and high heeled shoes was unlocking the door to the office. She snapped her gum at Agent Doggett and Detective Welles with a sly smile. Agent Scully cleared her throat and opened her coat a little to reveal her pregnant state. The young woman's eyes widened as though the sight of a pregnant woman reminded her of the consequences of sex.

  
"Miss, you better let us open the door," Detective Welles instructed and she stepped away from the door, wobbling down the wooden staircase to join Scully at the base of the stairs.

  
With a bit of jostling, the door opened and the detective and FBI agent entered but stopped just a foot inside. The rancid smell of decomposing flesh and bodily fluids filled their nostrils and the men fought to exit the small trailer.

  
"Agent Scully, you might want to take a look at this," Doggett suggested.

  
"Hey," Detective Welles hand flew up to stop Scully from reaching the top of the stairs. "No, man."

  
"I did my residency in forensic medicine, Detective Welles," Scully stated, looking up at him. "I promise you, I have seen worse."

  
Welles looked from Scully to Doggett, who nodded. 

  
"It's pretty gruesome," Doggett confirmed but knew that if he tried to 'protect' Scully from anything he would be protecting himself from Scully. "But I know, for one, that you've seen worse. It doesn't smell too great in there, so you might want to prepare yourself."

 

Scully took a deep breath of the cool Baltimore morning air and walked past the men into the warm enclosure. The smell hit her olfactory senses immediately and she tried to breathe through her mouth to prevent the smell from assaulting her and causing any dry heaving. 

  
Since becoming pregnant she had felt like a bloodhound. She could smell John Doggett's Old Spice cologne, when he switched deodorants, the vanilla creamer he used in his morning coffee and the burning smell in the copier machine on the third floor she had to use when theirs stopped working last Thursday. The burning smell turned out to be a pen that was lodged in the machine to prevent it from jamming however it made her want to vomit.

  
Slowly, she stepped towards the body to see what she could only guess to be John Cypress' decapitated body, under the desk with a shallow pool of blood surrounding the neck and torso.

  
"Call Dr Lombard. She should come out to see this!" Scully called from inside the office.

  
Doggett and Welles entered again into the trailer. Their eyes followed Scully's finger, pointing to the ceiling. There, hanging from the light fixture, was the missing head of John Cypress.  
 


	6. Sleeping Arrangements

Scully had spent the rest of the day at the crime scene with Dr Lombard and then followed her with the body back to the OCME to assist with the autopsy of John Cypress. Agent Doggett continued the investigation on the street with Detective Welles, canvassing the area and trying to find out if someone could pinpoint anyone entering the construction site, or in the area that morning besides the regular postal workers and delivery trucks. Doggett took down every name and eye witness however none would be forthcoming.

  
When he arrived at the OCME building at 2:30 that afternoon, he had a hot lunch and warm tea for his partner. He found Lombard and Scully both in scrubs sitting in the ME's office with their feet propped up on a small coffee table and their white runners discarded on the floor.

  
"Knock knock," John announced his presence and held up the bag of food. "I brought you a turkey club and mint tea."

  
Scully wiggled herself into a more upright position. "Food."

  
"Mayo, no chili sauce, with cranberry sauce and two pickles on the side," Doggett reported, setting the bag down on the table. Scully reached into the bag and offered him half her sandwich. He waved her off. "Welles and I grabbed a bite earlier but I wanted to check in and see what you found."

  
Scully handed over half her sandwich to Jennifer who took it willingly.

  
"Thanks for thinking of me second," Jennifer teased.

  
"You've eaten," Scully countered, reminding her new friend of the plate of eggs and toast she had delivered thirty minutes ago. Scully had taken the opportunity to call Mulder in the hallway, away from the smell of the offending smell.

 

"That doesn't even count because it was just eggs with cheese and some toast. I didn't even get bacon," Jennifer retorted and Scully had to agree.

  
Doggett was happy to see a rapport had built between the two women. He turned one of the chairs facing Dr Lombard's desk to face the pair and took a sip from his coffee, setting it down near a few empty granola bar wrappers.

  
Scully took the opportunity to eat a few bites from her sandwich, enjoying the fact that her partner knew her latest preference for lunchtime fare. He pulled out a salad and french fries from the bag, snagging a few before pulling out his notes from that day.

  
"No one in the area can report or account for anyone or anything entering the office since John Cypress arrived at the construction site last night by cab at 11 o'clock," Doggett told them.

  
"Time of death was estimated around one am," Jennifer told Doggett. "But that doesn't explain the lack of loss of blood. And how the head got up there."

  
"Poltergeist!" Doggett exclaimed and the women snapped their heads to look at him. "That's what one of the eye witnesses from the Paul Ruskin death. Three eye witnesses today substantiated the initial report although their pinpointing of the exact day was a little hazy."

  
Dr Lombard's phone rang and she crossed her office to answer it. 

  
"Where's the detective?" Scully asked quietly.

  
"He told me he would meet me back at the precinct to go over our notes with you, he wanted to avoid coming back here today," Doggett whispered, leaning closer to Scully. He snagged a couple more fries from the box that sat between them. Before they all disappeared, she took a few french fries from the box also. "He didn't want to offer any further insight into their _situation_."

 

Scully nodded. It was uncomfortable for them to be in the middle of whatever it was they were in the middle of, however, it piqued their curiosity nevertheless.

  
Jennifer hung up her phone and turned back to the agents. "I better get back to work. You two can continue to use my office for the time being."

  
"Thank you," Scully replied.

  
"I have to be out of here by five thirty today," Jennifer muttered to herself as she donned her jacket and stepped back into her shoes. "Dana, I'll call you tomorrow when the initial lab results of the residue come in. But don't expect anything before Friday." 

  
Scully nodded. "Okay, thanks." 

  
When Dr Lombard had gone Doggett raised his eyebrows. "So, are we looking at another poltergeist?"

  
"The same wounds on the body, lack of wounds showing force but the impact from the body hitting a wall." Scully replied. "In this instance I would say the body hit the floor, because the walls of the trailer wouldn't be able to withstand the impact of 180 lbs moving at the velocity that killed him."

  
Doggett held his hands parallel to one another, slamming his bottom hand up and then down between his legs and his top hand. 

  
"Just like that," Scully confirmed. 

  
He blew a whistle through his lips and shook his head. "Have you ever witnessed anything like that, Scully?"

  
"No, we've witnessed possession by a demon spirit, the conjuring of the dead from an enchanted or someone who believes themselves to be gifted with the ability to raise the dead. Once we chased the idea of fear around Los Angeles on Halloween and it manifested itself into whatever scared the person," Scully replied. "I should get changed and we can head back over to the precinct."

  
Doggett gathered the garbage and left Scully's tea. "I'll be out front."

 

********

 

By five o'clock they had exhausted every lead and decided to head back to DC. The construction site was going to patrolled for any suspicious activity but because they didn't have a suspect, there wasn't much for local PD to contribute besides monitoring the situation. They headed back to DC.

 

Scully woke up to her given name being called and a hand tapping her shoulder.

  
"Where am I?" She looked around the car to see that Doggett had driven them to the parking garage at the bureau. 

  
"I would have taken you right home but I need to record the mileage on the car and I'd be stuck at your house," John explained. "You passed out ten minutes after we got onto the highway."

  
Scully shrugged her shoulders in a stretch and unbuckled her belt. "Sorry."

  
"Tomorrow I'll come here early, pick up a fleet car and then swing by your place to pick you up," he offered. Scully nodded in agreement and John gathered his things from the car. "Are you okay to drive, Dana?" 

 

"I'm just a little tired," she replied. "I feel much better after that sleep."

  
"Maybe someone can come get you?" He asked, trying not to make eye contact with her as she exited the car. She narrowed her eyes at him and took the keys from his hand. "Okay, well have a safe drive, Agent Scully."

  
********

When she arrived home there was no smells wafting from her kitchen, no size 12 shoes littering her front entry way and his leather jacket was absent from the back of her couch. 

Scully decided she should eat something for supper and reschedule her Lamaze courses. No matter what, she would be there for the Saturday class and she reiterated this to the public health nurse on the phone, who explained patiently that as a doctor, Lamaze was really more for the experience for her and her partner. She smiled at their choices of wording.

  
Grabbing a bowl from her cupboard, Scully prepared herself a bowl of Greek yogurt with bananas, strawberries and raspberries. She found flax and chia seeds, sprinkling them on top and took out a pear and sliced it into eighths, putting those on the side of her creation.

  
There wouldn't be anything of interest on television but something mindless would be fine so she brought her food, her tall glass of water and the latest copy of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

 

She had changed into a loose t-shirt and cotton pajama pants and pulled her hair up away from her face, that she had scrubbed free from make up. It must have been a signal for Mulder to show up because as she was finishing her yogurt, there was a knock at her door.

  
"Who is it?" She called, not particularly thrilled about needing to get up from the couch. 

  
"It's me," Mulder called through the door.

  
"Use your key," she called back and picked up her first pear slice.

  
In a few moments he was coming through the door and looking around her apartment, for what she did not know. 

  
"Hi," she called to him finally.

  
"What are you doing?" He asked.

  
"I'm eating supper," she replied and took a healthy bite of the pear. It's sweet taste and grainy texture made her tummy happy. She stopped mid chew when she saw the panicked look on his face.

  
"We have class!" Mulder said. 

  
"No, we have class Saturday," she corrected him and continued to chew on the juicy fruit. "I just signed us up for the three week Saturday courses instead of the evening ones."

 

"You're allowed to do that?" He stood in his place, looking as though he wanted to take action but was unsure of what.

  
"Mulder come sit down," Scully invited him and patted the couch next to her. 

  
Mulder walked to the front door to discard his shoes and hung up his jacket. When he joined her on the couch he put one arm around the back to pull her into a side hug. "Is that your dinner?"

  
"It was yogurt, berries and now this pear," she said happily then regarded him warily. "Why?"

  
"Is that enough for you?" He asked. "Should we call your pizza guy?"

  
Scully smiled. "It is okay to have a light meal every once in a while. You don't have to feed me casseroles and pasta constantly until the baby arrives."

  
"I just want-"

  
Scully put a reassuring hand on his leg. "I had a long day. Why don't you put your magic fingers to use and rub my feet."

  
Mulder, looking happy to be given a task, moved away from her on the couch to allow her to shift so her feet were in his lap. "Did you have an autopsy?"

  
"We found another decapitated body," she said. "The developer of the latest crime scene was found in his office." A thought suddenly occurred to her. "What have you been doing all day, Mulder?"

  
"Well if anyone was paying attention to this conversation I was NOT with the Gunmen, hacking into the Baltimore OCME's files and looking over the other autopsy results and looking into the history of that neighbourhood," Mulder said as he began massaging her feet. "I may have found that there was once a church right where the town homes are being built and there may have been a few priests buried in that church."

  
"Oh goooooood," she moaned. 

  
Mulder stopped his movements. "What?"

  
"Good," she nodded at her feet and he laughed, continuing to work his thumbs into the arches of her feet. "Ohhhhhhh."

  
"Okay, Scully you keep that up and your neighbours are going to think we're doing something else in here besides talk about poltergeists," he teased.

  
Not normally loud or verbose when she was experiencing pleasure, Mulder at first worried there was something wrong with his performance. Her pleasure was expressed quiet at times, explosive and powerful but only written on her face and displayed in her eyes. However, he understood among her passion was still Dana Scully, subtle in her expressions, giving nothing away but loud when it really meant something. If Mulder had made her scream or yell in the past, it was after diligent work on his part. 

  
On occurrences when her reaction to his efforts were more subdued, he looked to her for other signs that she had enjoyed herself. Flushed chest, cheeks turned rosey, eyes dilated and her body was limp. He liked to make the normally button-down, perfect postured Dana Scully lay limply on a bed or a couch. Once that line in their relationship had been broken, he lived for it.

  
His thoughts strayed from the case to the way she looked tonight. In his youth he never looked at a pregnant woman with desire. Yet, now, as a man, seeing this woman he loved and respected, growing a baby inside of her filled him with joy and desire he almost worried it wouldn't last. At first he thought he wasn't entitled to have this but he realized, he could say screw you to fate and fight for this.

  
"Mulder?" Scully looked as though she had been saying his name repeatedly.

  
His eyes slowly moved up her form, from her shapely legs to the firm convex stomach and to her breasts, that he could finally see were without support. Her darkened nipples were visible through her t-shirt and suddenly the blood rushed from his head to his groin.

  
"Yeah?"

  
He lunged across the couch and captured her mouth with his. Tongues sought entry into each others mouths, breath was exchanged and hands began tearing at clothes. Mulder tore his shirt off over his head and knelt down on the floor, tugging at her pajama pants and panties.

  
Scully tried to lean forward to work on his belt buckle but the baby prevented her from reaching down that far. "Mulder, pants."

  
Mulder stood up quickly and she took over, unbuckling his belt and pulling his jeans down over his slender hips. Once his jeans and boxers were at his feet, Scully wasted no time, moving her mouth over his hard cock.

  
"Oh Christ!" Mulder cried out and instinctively put his hand on the back of her head, merely touching and not guiding. Something Dana Scully never needed any pointers with was how to maneuver her tongue and lips and mouth around his dick.

  
Her hand wrapped around his thick base and gave it a few quick pumps as her tongue teased the head, tasting him for the first time since rejoining the living world. She squeezed her thumb and forefinger tightly and moved her mouth down, taking in as much as she could.  

  
"Gnuhaaaa," expelled from Mulder's lips. 

  
She moved her mouth up and down, stopping at the head to swirl her tongue around before moving back down, engulfing his hardness into her hot mouth and sucking hungrily. 

  
"Scuh..." he started again and tapped her shoulder. 

  
Scully hummed her disapproval with stopping and continued her ministrations. Her head moving in deliberate up and down, her nose hitting her hand as she took him deep in her mouth.

  
"Scuhhh-leeeee," he breathed again. "I.... I can't.....Can't stand up anymore."

  
She released him with a pop and looked up at him with a sly smile. "Bedroom?"

  
A double syllable word had never sounded so promising. Mulder pulled her up from the couch and followed her, gathering their clothing and watching the way her body still moved lithely. 

  
"You look good from the back, Scully," Mulder called to her. 

  
As she laid down on the bed, Mulder grabbed a pillow and tucked it under her backside.

  
"Should I ask what you plan to do with this position?" She asked, feeling slightly silly to have her bottom raised up. She saw where his eyes were focusing, directly on her sex and let out a deep breath.

  
"Non-verbal communication, Scully. When we finally did get to a partnership conference we excelled in that area," he said, climbing onto the bed and laying between her thighs and placing a kiss on her leg. "Do you want me to tell you what I was planning?"

  
Scully smiled a full megawatt smile, the kind that made Mulder's heart jump in his throat. "Maybe don't."

  
Once, in Los Angeles while inebriated from too much limo champagne, and Scully had performed the blow job of her life, Mulder rambled on what he planned to do to her once she was finished. The words that spilled from his mouth left them feeling both a little shocked the next day. The description alone of what he planned to do with her backside made her wary about sex with Mulder penetrating her from behind for weeks. 

  
He finally had to confront his long-winded description of his drunken fantasies when they were about to exit the car at a crime scene. He locked the doors and said "Don't worry, Scully, I won't do it unless you actually ask me to."

 

She knew immediately what he was referring to because as constant as it had been on his mind, it was on hers. Her face had flushed intensely and her lips turned up in an embarrassed smile. "Okay."

  
"I was drunk," he defended himself. "So... you know you say things you don't always mean or..."

  
"Fine," she said, hoping that they could leave the conversation there. 

  
Mulder looked up from his lap, looking like an embarrassed teenager rather than the suave man she worked beside every day for seven years. "I'm serious, Scully. I didn't mean to... narrate such an elaborate story."

  
Broaching the subject matter and the reminder of his never before expressed desires was not welcomed considering where they were. " _I get it_ , Mulder."

  
"Do you?" He asked and they stared at one another for a beat. "Do you know what I'm going through over here?"

  
"Possibily. But I think we could talk about it later?" She suggested, glancing out the window.

  
"As long as you promise we actually will," he compromised and looked longingly into her eyes. The look was the same one he gave her when they first were partnered together and she felt he was trying to seduce her to see his ways. Soon, she discovered, it was just part of Mulder's intensity.

  
"Yes, I promise," she replied and unlocked her door, trying to create as much physical distance between them as possible. 

  
Past that point, it had become a secret inside joke between them during foreplay and making love. She had said to him a week later while she rode him that she wanted him to tell her another 'story' and he looked at her with amused confusion until she winked at him and they shared a good laugh.

  
Back in Scully's bedroom, where she lay on her back with her hips slightly higher, Mulder's face was crudely between her thighs, bathing her like a cat and inhaling the scent of her arousal. 

  
"You taste so sweet," he whispered. 

  
Scully lifted her head from the pillow to watch him dip a finger shallowly inside and licked her juices off his finger. In her entire life, she had never witnessed a man do that. 

  
"Mulder," she whispered. 

  
He aligned his face with hers and kissed her deeply. "See?"

  
She brought a hand up to her mouth and nodded. 

  
"Sweet," he repeated as he moved his body back down the bed. 

  
"Oh," she breathed as his tongue continued to swipe across her folds and work at her clitoris. "That's good."

  
Good might not be the adjective men would find encouraging to continue however if they had heard her gasps, her moans or saw the flush take over her whole body, the shudder in her shoulders or the sweat run down her side. If she wanted to call it 'good' then he would take it. Sometimes when she said 'good' her whole body went limp and she smiled at him secretly for days. 

  
A loud moan escaped her and she cried out, "Oh Jesus!"

  
It took them both by surprise and he rode out her orgasm with her, keeping his fingers still inside her, feeling her clench and release.

  
When she opened her eyes he was poised above her, staring at her in wonder, with the same reverence he held for the unexplained phenomena he hoped to see in person. 

  
"Mulder?" She started.

  
"You do that so well," he said and kissed his way across her soft skin. "It is just something to watch you, Scully."

  
She rolled onto her side and looked up at him, waiting for him to enter her. 

  
"What are you waiting for?" She asked as he positioned himself, delaying at her entrance.

  
"Life to interrupt me," he muttered as he slowly pushed into her. "I've been waiting for something to interrupt all this."

  
Scully swallowed as he buried himself to the hilt and licked her bottom lip. Her hands clutched at the bedding, holding her steady and she slowly looked up into his eyes.

  
"Maybe you better start moving so it doesn't have a chance," she replied.

  
Mulder smirked at her, his eyes wild with humour and he placed kisses on her shoulder and arm. "I'm happy, Scully."

  
"Mul-" she started but he cut her off by pulling out and sliding back inside her, setting a smooth and steady rhythm. His hips slapped against her backside as he moved in and out of her.

  
It was this act, this one thing that completed their relationship that was already intense and complicated, that closed a gap they previously had between them. There was intimacy that was unspoken, a closeness that she shared with him because he knew her so completely as she did him. But now he knew everything about her. 

  
"Can you come again?" He asked, his face giving away that he was feeling close.

  
Scully nodded and he pulled up, more on his knees so he could work the bundle of nerves at her centre. That and the angle of where he was pushing inside her she did not need long.

  
Just as it was building the phone rang. Once. Twice. Three times.

  
"Ignore it," Mulder urged and kept pumping.

 

Her voice rang through the apartment from the small box on her desk, telling the caller to leave a message.

  
Beep! "Hi, it's John Doggett." 

  
Mulder stopped his movements and they exchanged a look. Mulder questioning why her partner was calling at this hour and and Scully challenging him, knowing full well that he had no ulterior motives.

  
"I just got a call from AD Skinner that Kersh wants Agent Mulder with us tomorrow. He's not answering his phone. If you hear from him can you let him know we'll be leaving at our usual time." 

 

Mulder smirked. "I guess I should get a suit."

 

"You can't sleep over, Mulder." Scully said, matter-of-factly.

  
Mulder, who enjoyed watching Scully try to remain the picture of propriety, even with a bun in the oven without a ring on her finger, started his pace again. "Why not? I think the jig is up with the FBI and if Doggett doesn't know..."

 

"He knows," she breathed, trying to focus on her orgasm to build back up, to get her release so she could get some sleep. "You don't have a suit here."

  
"Scully...." Mulder chastised, playfully. "I can get one in the morning, before we head into work together."

 

"Agent Doggett is picking me up in the morning, early," she said.

 

"Then he can pick us up at my place," he countered.

  
Her body wasn't going to allow anything to happen while she was having this talk with Mulder. He knew that, and therefore was prolonging the build towards ecstasy. It wasn't fair. She needed to shut out the world to relax so her body could go there and if she had too much on her mind, there was no point in even starting for her. Sometimes, with his skills and persuasion, he could help her forget. He was good at it and he liked helping her shut that down.

  
He wasn't going to spontaneously come inside her from these shallow movements so he felt it was safe to thrust while bartering their sleeping arrangements. He had stayed every night since Sunday, then retired back to his place during the day. The fish didn't mind but they missed her. 

  
"Why don't we sleep at my place?" He suggested, kissing the freckles on her shoulder, breathing in her clean scent. _How did she always smell so fucking good?_ "We will take one car in and meet Doggett at the bureau." He kissed her jawline. "The fish miss you."

  
Realizing she longed for the scent of his leather couch, acknowledging that the shower had good water pressure and feeling assured he had clean sheets she acquiesced. She hadn't let herself visit his apartment much while he was 'gone' and wanted to experience the feeling of his home now, with him in it. 

  
Scully nodded and clutched at the pillow, hoping her silence would be enough to encourage him to shut up and move. It was enough of a sign that he could take them to the finish line, he took it.

 

"I love you," he whispered in her ear as she came.


	7. In Baltimore

 

When Mulder awoke the next morning, he was alone in his bed. The sound of Scully's voice carried through the apartment from the front table and he could smell coffee brewing. Chances are it was mostly decaf coffee but since Mulder's 'rebirth' he was happy to take whatever he could get. 

 

"Yes, we'll meet you at the bureau in a little over half an hour," Scully was saying. "Mm, we can carpool from there." Another pause. "Yeah, I'll be okay."

 

Mulder suddenly felt more alert. Scully did not say she would be okay or she felt anything less than 'fine.' Who was she talking to? Was she talking to Doggett?

 

After brushing his teeth and using the bathroom, Mulder made his way out to the living room where Scully was already dressed and ready for work. She had a small cup of coffee and a toasted bagel in front of her. Her hair had been blow dried into it's usual sleek bob and she had a pair of dark grey pants and a pale pink  maternity camisole. She looked breathtaking.

   
She looked up from the paper in front of her and smiled at him. "Morning." Mulder gave her a kiss on her lips and tasted the cream cheese from her breakfast. "Mmm. You should get ready. We need to meet Agent Doggett soon."

  
Mulder kissed her again, pulling her up to him and kissing her deeply. 

  
"Mulder, we have to go," she murmured and moaned as his hands roamed over her body. "Don't... we have to go."

  
In the year before he went missing, morning sex a priority to satisfy Mulder's appetite. Scully knew she should have woken him up earlier as he gave her a mischievous look and kissed her again. 

  
_Definitely should have woken him up earlier_ , she thought as he peeled one strap down her creamy shoulder.

  
"Mulder," she moaned again and he pulled her towards the bedroom. "We really don't have time."

  
He noticed she said that however he was not stopped from pulling her pants and panties off in one move. He also noticed she was pushing on his boxer shorts with her hands.

  
"I will shower quick, we can still meet Agent Doggett in time," he assured her and she nodded, not really caring either way if they were late or not.

  
***************

  
The drive into Baltimore was slightly uncomfortable for Scully. Since her pregnancy she felt nauseated in the back seat of any vehicle and therefore, she had to ride up front with John. Agent Doggett was was answering the majority of Mulder questions, pausing every few minutes to check on her well-being. 

  
She could feel Mulder watching them as they shared their discoveries so far on the case, observing them and making mental notes about everything they were discussing as well as the way his partner was interacting with her new partner. 

  
Mulder did not wear jealousy well. Usually it made him more possessive and territorial than he already was. Mulder did not witness the last six months of her pregnancy and did not know the intricate ins and outs of her day the way her new partner had. Not knowing these things would first cause him to observe what he could, putting Scully under the Mulder-profiler microscope. Then he would ask her detailed questions on any information he felt like she was leaving out. 

  
_Why did it feel like she had two lovers?_ John Doggett had been a friend and a confidant. _There was nothing romantic on either side_ , she thought.

 

Yet sitting with both of them made her feel awkward. 

  
"Dana? Are you feeling sick?" John glanced over to her and then back at Mulder. "Uh, Agent Scully?"

  
"Sorry, no I'm okay, thanks, John," she replied. "I feel fine."

  
"Agent Doggett was just asking about your findings in the autopsy," Mulder piped up. 

  
Scully couldn't turn to look at Mulder very well in the car so she craned her neck to see him peripherally. "Doctor Lombard will go over the notes we made when we get in if you don't want to read my report, Mulder."

  
"You know I always do better when you give me the bullet points, Scully," he reminded her and sat back in his seat. He popped another sunflower seed into his mouth and swirled it around. "Besides, I'm sure the pathologist has better things to do than bring me up to speed."

  
"She's been really enthusiastic about helping us, actually," Scully replied. "I guess she tried to call us a few months ago, asked for you by name but someone told her- well they said... they said-"

  
"That I was dead?" Mulder laughed. "Well, you know how I love to go against the grain."

  
Scully looked over to Agent Doggett who was watching her and then they both looked back at the road. It was going to be a long week.

 

******

 

In the conference room at the precinct, there was fresh coffee - regular and decaf - in take out boxes, single serving packets of cream and sugar and a box of glazed doughnuts in the middle of the table. Mulder was making small talk with Detective Welles as they waited for Doctor Lombard to arrive. 

  
The petite blonde entered with a few books under her arm and set them down awkwardly on the table. 

  
"Hello," she said and brushed her hair out of her face. She looked around the room and looked curiously at Mulder. "Who are you?"

  
"I'm Special Agent Fox Mulder, with the FBI," Mulder said, extending his hand.

  
"No shit," Jennifer said and shook it. "You died."

  
"Like Lazarus commanded I walk again among the living," Mulder deadpanned and nodded towards her books. "Did you bring something regarding our poltergeist?"

  
Dr Lombard smiled at Mulder, obviously excited to have another believer among the group and gave a pointed look to Detective Welles. Whatever had happened between them in the past was not water under the bridge. 

  
"Why don't we review the notes and we can go through that book there," Mulder said and extended his arm towards the table for her to sit.

  
"Coffee, anyone? I brought decaf for the ladies," Detective Welles offered and Scully smiled at him. 

  
Agent Doggett poured two cups of decaf for Scully and Dr Lombard, fixing Scully's with cream and no sugar. "Jennifer, what was it you took in yours?"

  
"Two cream, one sugar," she replied and glanced between Scully and Doggett. She took the coffee from Doggett and looked over to Jeremy. "Thanks."

  
Mulder poured himself his own coffee and sat down next to Scully at the end of the table. Agent Doggett sat to Scully's right with Dr Lombard and Detective Welles across from them. 

  
Mulder opened the case files from the five deaths, pulling out the photographs of the bodies and spreading the glossy pictures in front of him. He was preparing himself to discuss the nature of poltergeists and how it related to the case. Whether or not he believed this was a poltergeist had yet to be revealed to Scully and Doggett however he did want to show off a little and go on a 'rant' to the locals. You could always count on Mulder for that. 

  
At first these lectures were insightful and interesting. Scully couldn't wait to hear the next thing to come out of Mulder's mouth. Half the time it was because she wanted to give her counter argument and the other half of the time because it was interesting to listen to him discuss the most outlandish ideas so passionately. For a while she hated it. Before her cancer, before they lost the X-Files and it was only temporary. When they got back to the basement and he would go on about werewolves, the psychic power of shaman priests and or the powers of the voodoo by Creoles. His amazing mind could recall any fact he had filed away. 

  
As Mulder gave them all a history lesson in the phenomenon and how the occurrences looked like it could be a poltergeist. Dr Lombard nudged Detective Welles with a gloating look on her face and he rolled his eyes.

  
"You don't honestly believe this could be a noisy ghost!" Welles cried, getting up from the table. "This is probably someone making a stink about the development in the area."

  
"I might be inclined to believe you Welles but the death of John Cypress was the latest death. The transient people in the area didn't have any part in the construction, nor did the deaths slow down the build of the development," Mulder countered. "I think we need police officers monitoring the site, and we need to visit the site at night. Agents Doggett, Scully and myself are prepared to stay in Baltimore overnight. But if my research on the area is correct, this build is going over an old church cemetery. Maybe some old priests aren't happy with the new tenants."

  
"He's joking," Welles said to Scully and Doggett, who shook their heads. "He's not joking?"

  
"I want to head over to the local newspaper and then the library before we go back to the construction site today," Mulder announced. 

  
Dr Lombard stood up and Welles went to cup her elbow to help her stand. They held each others gaze for a moment before she straightened her shoulders and he cleared his throat.

  
"Well I should get back to the OCME," she replied. "It was nice meeting you, Agent Mulder."

  
"You too, Dr Lombard," he replied.

  
Scully started searching for her phone so she could call AD Kersh's office to report they would be staying overnight. Mulder had advised Agent Doggett and Scully to bring clothing for a few days, promising Scully they would be home Saturday morning for the Lamaze class. She told him pointedly that morning that she would be going to the class, case solved or not.

 

********

 

Scully was unloading her clothes from her suitcase into the dresser of the hotel suite. As luck would have it, with Mulder assisting with their X-File, submitting a requisition to stay overnight back to DC wasn't met with any problems. Perhaps it was because Kersh's secretary had a thing for Mulder. Perhaps  it was because they had a friend in accounting who knew not to fight against his persistence. The man couldn't stay dead. Chances are if he wanted them to stay overnight versus drive back and forth to Washington he was going to make that happen. 

  
Mulder knocked on her door and she called for him to enter. 

  
"Hey," he said, sitting down on her bed. It had a pillow top maytress and the carpet smelled clean. This was a nice place. "How goes the unpacking?"

  
She was staying in the room off the kitchen, Mulder and Doggett were sleeping in adjoining rooms that shared a bathroom across the suite. Her new partner had tried to offer the adjoining room however she looked at him pointedly and reminded him of the rules of propriety. Mulder smirked behind her at her attempts to maintain some professionalism while she carried a baby inside of her that she conceived an hour after closing out a case. 

  
"Fine," she replied glancing over at him. He was eyeing her bed and giving it a test bounce. "All set?"

  
"No magic fingers in this one," he said and tossed himself back on the bed. He grabbed one of her extra pillows and tucked it under his head. "Wanna snuggle before supper?"

  
"Mulder, _Agent Doggett_ is in the living room," she reminded him.

  
"Actually he went down to the gym on the 3rd floor," Mulder replied and waggled his eyebrows at her for good measure. "C'mon, Scully..."

  
Scully tried her best not to look amused. When they were together before his disappearance, she tried to maintain as much separation as possible while they were on the road. It didn't always work out that way and occasionally there was some after-hours hanky panky in a government paid room. 

  
"You know Mulder," Scully started.

  
"You're not going to argue that we're on the company dime or something, are you? It never bothered you before," He groaned. Scully's face flushed a little and she went back to unpacking her bag. The change in her demeanor was not lost on Mulder and he sat up. "What?"

  
"I'm a little sore," she said quietly. "Since you came over Sunday, everyday this week, last night twice, then this morning..." 

 

Mulder suddenly realized why she was trying to put some distance between them. "Are you ok?"

  
Scully nodded and moved around the room, trying to avoid eye contact. 

  
"Can you come here a second?" Mulder asked softly and she sat at the edge of the bed near his hip. "Are you ok, Scully?"

  
Her tongue darted out and licked her bottom lip nervously. "Yeah, I just need a time out."

  
"You should have said something this morning," he told her, suddenly feeling bad. 

  
When she said they didn't have time that morning, he realized, he shouldn't have pulled her onto the bed and bathed her sex with his tongue before taking her from behind. She came twice and therefore, to Mulder, that was a good way to start his first day back at the bureau. 

  
Scully squirmed on the bed and rubbed a hand across her belly. "We should get dinner before meeting up with your poltergeist expert."

  
Mulder got off the bed and headed towards the door. He wanted to change into proper stakeout attire.

  
Doggett knocked on the door to Scully's room and leaned against the frame. He was flushed from his work out, his grey Army t-shirt soaked at the chest and underarms. "I'm going to grab a shower before we head out. Is there time to stop for food?"

  
Mulder squeezed past him. "There's always time for food."

  
As he walked towards his room he could hear Scully and Doggett talking but not the specifics. Then he heard it and he stopped dead in his tracks. 

  
Scully laughed. 

  
Not a polite chuckle. Not a fake ha-ha but a good old fashioned laugh. Throaty and sexy. 

  
_What the fuck._

 

********

 

Mulder, Scully, Doggett and Welles sat around the precinct conference table with their Chinese take out, chosen by Scully and recommended by Welles. Scully was certain she would have terrible heartburn later but at the moment, as she snacked on her vegetarian spring rolls, almond chicken and sweet and sour pork, she was happy. 

  
Mulder gave her another scoop of chicken chow-mein and she glanced at him with a secret smile. Doggett picked up the carton of sweet and sour sauce and poured some on his fried rice and handed Scully the sauce. 

  
"You three work together long?" Welles asked, watching Doggett and Mulder dote on Scully. 

  
Mulder took a swig from his water bottle and nodded. "Scully and I have worked together since... was it March of '92?" 

  
Scully nodded and dabbed at the sauce at the corner of her mouth. "That's right. And Agent Doggett was assigned to the X Files October of 2000."

  
Welles was looking between the three, trying to figure out how the puzzle pieces fit together.

  
A young female patrol cop knocked on the conference room and informed them she was ready to roll out. 

  
"I asked Officer Pitman to accompany us to the site. She was the first-responder on the three of the deaths," Welles reported and the young brunette nodded. "Frankie, where's Jason?"

  
"He's gassing up the car," she replied quietly and turned to the agents who were finishing their supper. "Officer Cole will be along soon."

  
Scully would have estimated the tall, slight woman would have been better suited to a job the ballet but, being the shortest in her class at the academy, and the smallest woman among many of her coworkers, size was not everything. With the proper training, a person of small or slight stature could still pack a powerful punch.

  
She glanced over to the table and her eyes widened at Scully's belly and their eyes quickly met one another. 

  
"Smells good in here," she commented. "Oh, did you guys go to Mings?"

  
"Did you eat yet?" Welles offered and she nodded. "Okay we'll be another minute here."

  
"Officer Pitman, can you sit down?" Mulder asked.  "I have a few questions about the previous deaths."

  
Officer Pitman sat carefully as her duty belt would allow at the end of the table. 

  
"The first murder was when?" Mulder asked, pushing his plate aside and pulling out his notebook. 

  
"January fifth," she replied. "Did Agent Scully get her research on the area?"

  
Scully shook her head. "Not yet."

  
Officer Pitman took out her notebook and wrote down something quickly. "Officer Cole said he picked up the background info yesterday. I'll follow up for you."

  
"Jason Cole is Frankie's recruit," Welles explained. Scully, Mulder and Doggett would have all guessed Officer Pitman was in her first year on the job, not seasoned enough to have earned her a recruit. 

  
"Did you notice anything odd or strange about the previous murder scenes?" Mulder asked, trying to bring the conversation back on point.

  
"No sir, we arrived on scene to the area and found nothing out of the ordinary besides the decapitated body and the obvious sign of trauma," Pitman replied. "We searched the surrounding area, witnesses reported suspicious activity at the Cypress build site but when we investigated the site ourselves, no information was forthcoming. Detective Welles had us do some background into the site and we discovered it was an old church in the early 1900s and burned down in 1965. The lot has sat empty for the last thirty years until Cypress bought the land from the church in 1995."

 

"We were told it was a house," Doggett said and took a drink of water.

  
"I'd like to see your research file when your partner comes in," Scully said as she wiped her mouth. "I can keep looking into the history of the area while you are out tonight."

  
Pitman looked over the petite redhead's frame again and nodded. "Would you like someone to accompany you to the library?"

  
Scully shook her head. "I think I can manage as long as someone is able to pick me up and take me back to the hotel when I'm finished."

  
There was a knock at the door and Officer Cole entered. His eyes scanned the room before landing on Detective Welles. "There's been another death."


	8. Bring in Chuck

Mulder watched as Scully and Dr Lombard discussed the bagged body, laying on the gurney between them. Their hands gestured toward the body, occasionally pushing on their lower backs and rubbing their bellies, their postures and expressions mirroring one another.

 

It seemed for Scully, when she was tired especially, her hands would drift towards her belly and press on her lower back. He liked watching her like this, as a woman and full of life he created with her. Mulder made a mental note when he saw her wince as she pushed on her back again to actually follow through on his promise to massage her daily.

  
He approached the women, closing his umbrella as he walked. The rain that had started earlier that evening had stopped, leaving the air around them cool and fresh. Scully's hair was curling at her scalp and the ends from the humidity while the grey air of her breath came out of her lips as she spoke. 

  
He remembered the first time he was taken aback by her, disconcerted with how he felt by her just by looking at her. There were moments when they were speaking that he knew she was the only person who could ever challenge him in that way. There were moments over the years where he recognized her beauty and her strength. As much as he would like to say it was clear from the beginning how he felt. Yet, he didn't know her truly well enough on their first case to say he was in love with her then the way he was in love with her now. He had felt strongly about her from the beginning. Everything she did surprised him and kept him guessing. 

  
The feeling of seeing her and knowing he was in love with her struck him hard a few years later. It was before her cancer, although many people who knew them might argue his behaviour would suggest otherwise, that waiting another two years to kiss her in the hallway of his apartment was the ultimate slow burn towards the physical. As a trained profiler, even though he could recognize his feelings for her, he could also recognize her feelings for him and her unreadiness to accept them.

  
Now he reveled in the notion that they could express how they felt verbally and physically when they wanted to. Seeing her lately, full of life with his child, not only filled his heart with love but his heart with want for her.

  
"Are we debating over who has the honours of doing the slicing and dicing?" Mulder asked as he approached. 

  
Scully glanced up at Mulder and back to Dr Lombard. "Jennifer was suggesting we allow the night shift to do the autopsy with specific instructions."

  
"And you want to do the autopsy yourself," Mulder guessed, knowing full well that Scully would not feel okay leaving this in the hands of an understudy.

  
"Dana, it's late and I'm happy to leave instructions," Jennifer said as though she had already said it once before. 

  
Mulder touched Scully's elbow and she looked up at him. "Dr Lombard, would you give us a minute?"

  
"Sure, I'll get our John Doe over to the OCME for prep," she said and signaled to the other medical examiner. 

  
Mulder walked with Scully toward the car, his hand on her lower back.

  
"What is it?" Scully looked up at him and studied his face. "You want to talk me out of doing the autopsy." 

  
"Can you take a break tonight?" Mulder asked. "Please?"

  
"What if they miss something? When have you ever asked me to skip an autopsy?"

  
Mulder was feeling torn between wanting to know what happened to the victims and wanting Scully to take a break. "You are a doctor and should know better than to push your body in your stage of-"

  
"Excuse me?" Scully interrupted.

  
"Pregnancy, you're pregnant." Mulder gestured to her stomach. "Almost seven months along."

  
The rant was in full force. "You're not honestly suggesting that I'm incapable of doing my job-"

  
"Hey, I didn't say that. I just said that you might want to give your body a break. You've been out all day," he said and lowered his voice. He picked up her hand and rubbed his thumb across her palm. "You need to rest."

  
Agent Doggett approached just then and Mulder internally cursed the man's timing. "We all set?"

  
"Scully wants to do the autopsy," Mulder announced to Doggett.

  
Doggett nodded at Scully. "Sure. Get in the car, I'll drive."

  
Scully didn't bother looking up at Mulder before she hopped in the car, slightly slamming the door. 

  
"Agent Doggett-" Mulder started, his jaw clenched. 

  
"Agent Mulder, she'll be asleep before I get to the hotel, which is exactly where I plan on driving her," Doggett interrupted and moved away from the car a bit. "She can't stay awake in the car, let alone this late. If I had a dollar for every time I've woken her up, half asleep on my-"

  
Doggett stopped when he realized how this all sounded. 

  
Mulder wasn't mad at John Doggett. It wasn't his fault Mulder was abducted by aliens. It wasn't an assignment Doggett asked for to look for him. And it certainly wasn't Doggett's fault he was Scully's new partner. But he sure as shit couldn't take his anger about his abduction or missing the first six months of Scully's pregnancy on Scully. 

  
He wanted to take it out on Doggett. That didn't seem like the mature thing to do for a man nearing 40 but at this moment, he was feeling territorial and a little pissed off. 

  
"You don't need to tell me about Scully," Mulder interrupted as they walked away from the car.

  
"Maybe I do," Doggett replied. "Maybe I need to remind you that for all she is and ever was, she's also had a difficult pregnancy. And out of the two of us, I might know a thing or two. And in the months I've known Dana, she doesn't appreciate being bossed around or coddled. Especially because she's luggin' around little Jay Edgar."

  
Mulder was about to hit Doggett when he realized he might have a point. He wanted to hit him anyway.

  
"I'll drive to the OCME, she'll fall asleep, we'll head back to the hotel," Doggett suggested. 

  
Mulder nodded, jaw clenched.  He had to take a deep breath. His frustration and anger from feeling disconnected to the one person who made him feel normal wasn't going to get any easier if he was fighting her tooth and nail. Not over the baby, her body or how she took care of herself. Not while they were on a case. He needed to fight her on theories, methods of investigation and work together to stop these murders.

  
"In the meantime, I'm going to order the excavation team to dig in the area Scully found with her research. They should be able to be out there in the morning. There was a cemetery to the left of the build site and we should look there first," Mulder said, pointing to where he wanted the dig to start.

  
"That's good. We can meet them first thing while Scully looks over the autopsy findings," Doggett replied, nodding.  "I'm sure the night ME can handle the autopsy."

  
"I'm almost wondering if the body should wait until morning," Mulder mused. 

  
"Sure," Doggett agreed and moved toward the car.

 

Scully opened her door and looked at the men standing ten feet away from car. Mulder ignored them both and got in the backseat behind her.

  
***** 

 

When Scully woke up she was thirsty and overheated. The clock on the night stand read 1:34 a.m. and she realized she was back at the hotel. As she lay under the covers she could feel that she was still in the majority of her clothes earlier minus her shoes and jacket. She then wondered how she got to the room. She didn't remember much after they got into the car. 

  
Internally she was cursing her ability/habit of falling asleep so easily. It was even more possible that she would now that she was pregnant. John Doggett always looked at her with a kind and understanding smile during their partnership, often the same one Mulder gave her at first during their partnership. Mulder's smile came from the understanding that their work, the investigations and keeping up with him was exhausting. Doggett merely understood pregnancy in of itself was exhausting. 

  
She used the bathroom connected to her room, changed into her pajamas and made her way to the small kitchen in the suite. As she stood at the sink, drank the cool water from the tap, she resisted the urge to go to Mulder's room. In the last week she had grown accustomed to sleeping next to him, just as she had before he had disappeared. They weren't together every night but there were periods of more nights spent together than not.

  
She could hear a hum from the living room and other familiar sounds from of the hotel. As the cool liquid hit her belly she felt a sharp kick in her side and she jumped.

  
"Someone else unhappy to be up in the middle of the night?" Mulder greeted her. They exchanged a look and held eyes across the kitchen for a beat. "You fell asleep in the car before we reached the ME's office. Couldn't wake you so we came back to the hotel."

  
"How did I-"

  
"You're actually still pretty light, Scully," Mulder said and flexed a bicep. "Besides, Doggett isn't the only one who has been working out."

 

Scully's face flushed at the thought of Mulder carrying her in a fireman's carry up to their hotel with John Doggett probably opening the door. 

  
"It's okay," Mulder assured her. "You were still very ladylike."

  
Scully looked up at him and studied his face. He was freshly showered but not shaved. The white t-shirt fit tight across his chest and his sweatpants hung a little low on his hips. He looked delicious.

  
"Why are you still up?" She asked, pushing down her hormones for the time being.

  
"I went for a run, tried to clear my head," Mulder answered taking another step towards her. 

  
"Did it work?" Scully asked, knowing full well it only served as a temporary respite. She set her glass on the counter and took a step towards Mulder, lightly tracing her fingers along the counter. 

  
"A bit," he said. "How are you feeling?"

  
"Fine," she said and Mulder gave her a look. She shrugged. "Mulder... I mean I'm tired, obviously." 

  
"Okay, so maybe we can agree that all-nighters could stop for a while," Mulder suggested with a smile. "I mean, the baby is probably going to be messing with our sleep schedules for a bit."

  
Scully noted the use of 'we' and 'our' and nodded slowly. "Okay."

  
They were standing half a foot apart now, it had happened slowly as they were talking. The clock on the wall was ticking loudly as the quiet held over the hotel suite. He wanted to tell her how he was feeling. He wanted to get the whole truth out of her and know what was going on in her head. He wanted to kiss her and leave marks on her to signal to other men, along the baby in her tummy, she was obviously taken. 

  
Slowly, she ran her finger up his arm, then back down to hold his hand. "I'm sorry..."

  
Mulder looked at her in surprise. "You are?"

  
"You were just looking out for me, for us," she touched her belly and rubbed her free hand along the side of her stomach. "I'm not used to the Fox Mulder who wants me to wait on anything, I'm used to the Fox Mulder who wants an autopsy done at 9 p.m. even though I've been on my feet all day."

  
"I feel like a jerk when you say that," he admitted and she looked at him in surprise. "What?"

  
"I can assure you it's not a request most people ask of their partners," Scully replied with a smile. 

  
"Yeah well I think I'm one of the few people in the FBI to have a trained medical doctor out in the field as a partner," Mulder replied. 

  
"Mulder I told you before I wouldn't change a day," she said. "But I have come to appreciate that our work pushed us physically farther than we should have let it."

  
"So let's take it a little easier now," he cajoled and they smiled at one another. "There's a baby in there that will benefit from well rested parents. We both need to learn to take it easy, Scully."

  
Maybe it was the scent of shampoo and soap, the sight of his muscles flexing under his shirt or the continual, casual way he was saying we, us and our. Scully tugged on the center of his cotton shirt and they kissed, open mouthed and sloppily. 

  
"Mulder," she whispered as his lips kissed at her jawline and he slid his hands under the soft cotton of her t-shirt and up her bare back.

  
"Hmm?" 

  
"We shouldn't," she said lightly. 

  
His mouth was currently teasing the sensitive tendons along her throat and while his hands alternated between massaging the smooth skin on her back and caressing her back.  

  
"Okay," he murmured and slid one hand deftly under the waistband of her flannel pants, giving her backside a squeeze. His fingers toyed at the edge of her cotton panties and she felt her sex swell in anticipation of his hands on her body.

  
She had to stop this. They were in a hotel suite while on a case with her new partner asleep 30 feet away.  They needed to stop this. Reluctantly, she pushed on his chest and Mulder, equally as reluctant, pulled away. His body was half way to readiness to be inside her.  

 

"We can't here," she whispered.

  
"Okay," Mulder whispered back and kissed her forehead softly. "Go to bed. I'll tuck you in."

 

*********

 

Scully looked over the report again in front of her. Nothing of what she noted during the autopsy made sense but it fit in with the previous deaths. Jennifer Lombard looked at Scully as she reread the report.

  
"Dana, it's the same findings," Jennifer repeated her previous statement. "It doesn't make sense how but it goes along with what we saw in the other victims."

  
"Agent Mulder and Agent Doggett should be by soon to talk to me about the excavation," Scully said more to herself than to Jennifer, as she closed the file. When she looked up she noticed Dr Lombard studying her carefully. "What is it?"

  
"I don't mean to pry," Jennifer started and then shook her head with a smile. "Actually I am prying."

  
"Okay," Scully said, drawing out the last syllable. 

  
"You've worked this type of case before and you seem almost reluctant to admit it's a poltergeist," Jennifer began and Scully opened her mouth to speak. The pathologist held up her hand. "I read into your division of the FBI last night and found some interesting articles involving you and Agent Mulder. I guess I was just wondering...What is the hold up for you? I mean, I have seen a lot on this job and I have never seen bodies like this. Have you?"

  
Scully shook her head. 

  
"So, what is it?"

  
"I just want to see the proof before jumping in to believing," Scully replied as she laced her fingers together around her belly. "We've investigated hoaxes before too but those aren't put in the Sunday paper. The evidence at hand would point to a poltergeist and I'm hoping the background report would point to why."

  
"But Agent Mulder believes," Jennifer said, almost as a question.

  
"Agent Mulder believes we are not alone," Scully replied. "At this point, it could always be someone or something with extraordinary strength."

  
"Really?" 

  
"No," Scully sighed. "It's probably a poltergeist. Usually it's caused from a spirit that is at unrest."

  
"I hope you'll keep me informed," Jennifer said. "Jeremy has been no help lately."

  
Scully wondered if that was an opening to ask her questions about the background of that relationship but she chose not to ask.

  
Jennifer's office phone rang just then and she answered it. "Dana? It's John Doggett."

  
Scully hoisted herself off the couch and crossed the small office to answer the phone. "Hello?"

  
"We have something here you're going to want to look at. Bring Dr Lombard if she's available and a tech if you can," Doggett said. There was loud crunching sound in the background like a digger or large bobcat at work. 

  
"What did you find?" Scully asked, trying to speak over the noise.

  
Doggett let out a long breath. "Another body."

  
********

  
The bones were small and fragile, Scully guessing that the age of the woman buried was no more than 16 years old when she was interred. Inside a shroud, at her feet lay a silver spoon and what appeared to be a rattle. The pine box she was buried in had been cracked at the left top corner, likely from the earth displacement during the build of the townhouses. 

  
"I was able to find out that a young woman by the name of Mary Innes was interred on the parish grounds over 115 years ago," Mulder reported. "Her body was buried in an unmarked grave but the church had a record of her burial."

  
"Where did you find it?" Scully asked, regarding the records. 

  
Mulder pulled a sunflower from his suit jacket pocket and glanced quickly at the shell. "The church may have been demolished but the parish moved to another location. In the basement of the rectory was a book on everyone interred on these grounds. Their bodies were all safely moved and buried five blocks over at the new cemetery. One guess who wasn't."

  
"Except Mary Innes," Scully replied as Mulder popped a seed into his mouth. His hand went quickly to his lips to discard the broken shell and he ate the salty seed. Her mind went to other things and she rebuked herself for the indulgence while on the job. "So who was she?"

  
Agent Doggett approached them and handed her a print out and a small clipping in a plastic sleeve. He was holding a plastic evidence bag with a small book inside it. "Mary Innes was a young woman who was hired to work in the church kitchen for the priests. I found a diary in the bottom of her casket. A young priest, Father Andrew Gillam. He was 21 at the time of his arrival at the church. From what I can tell from the diary, he and Mary were having an affair. She became with child, died during child birth, the child was given up for adoption and Father Andrew was sent to another parish. When she died he buried her with the diary and a few items for the baby."

  
"I think Mary Innes is the one who has been killing these men," Mulder stated and waited for Scully to disagree with him. He waited for Agent Doggett to say anything. "Scully?"

  
"What you're saying is that Mary Innes is the poltergeist, killing people because her grave was disturbed as a sort of revenge?" Scully proposed and Mulder nodded. "How do you plan to prove this?"

  
"In the 1960s Latvian writer Konstantini Raudive made over 70,000 recordings of electronic voice phenomena, commonly known as EVP," Mulder described.

  
"Ah yes, EVP," Doggett interjected, rolling his eyes slightly.

  
"He was able to capture the voices of ghosts on audio tape," Mulder continued. "If we get Chuck out here, we might be able to record Mary's voice and find out what's keeping her here."

  
Agent Doggett rolled his eyes but held his opinions to himself.  Detective Welles approached them looking more rumpled than usual. 

 

"We have the casket ready to be moved," Welles replied and ran a hand through his disheveled hair. 

 

"Chuck can be here late this afternoon" Mulder continued. "We might be able to get some more information if we leave Mary Innes here."

  
"Or we could bury her in a proper cemetery and try to catch an actual killer," Welles snapped. 

  
"Since we were brought in to work on this case, why don't we try it my way first. Then you can go back to trying to figure out how and why a live human did this. But I guarantee you, you'll be wrong. I've been investigated these phenomenon since 1989 and I know what I'm looking for."

  
Welles shook his head, resigned. "Okay, Agent Mulder. Let's try it your way first."


	9. Closure

Scully listened to the moaning and gurgling again while Chuck Burks, Agent Doggett, Mulder and Welles discussed the possibility they were in fact dealing with a poletergeist. 

  
"Well?" Mulder prompted Scully as she took off the headphones and set them on the long table inside their makeshift office at the squad room. "What do you think, Scully?"

  
"It sounds like a person moaning, saying Andrew," Scully reported.

  
"Spirit," Mulder corrected her and she gave him a look. "Spirit, Scully. Welles, Doggett and I were there with Chuck. The patrol officers locked down the site. No one else was there. "

  
Scully looked at Mulder challengingly. "Did you see anything? A spirit levitating objects? Any structural movement of the buildings that can't be explained by water turbulance from the pipes and underground sewage? Seismic activity?"

  
Detective Welles jaw dropped slightly and Mulder smirked at him. "Agent Scully joined the X-files division in 1992."

  
"So I know what you're looking for," Scully said. "If you belive this is Mary Innes, then you need to put her spirit to rest before she kills any more men. I studied her remains. She wasn't murdered. Her body showed no signs of trauma besides what she probably suffered during childbirth."

  
"How does that happen?" Welles asked tentatively. 

  
"Post partum bleeding, hypertension, obstructed labour cardiovascular disease aggrivated by sociodemographic factors of age, access to medical resources. If Mary Innes was not in good health and she could be at risk for preterm delivery and that can also lead to maternal death," Scully reported. "At the time I don't imagine she had access to skilled doctors and in the late 1800s. She possibly only had a mid-wife in training due to her social standing. The fact of the matter is, it's a dangerous thing for a woman to go through and any number of things could go wrong. They still do."

  
There was a low silence int he room as everyone took in the weight of the reality of Scully's situation and by extension, all women.   
"They don't call it the miracle of life for nothing, gentleman." Scully stated and slowly stood up. "Excuse me."

  
Mulder watched her leave and wondered how a woman who knew every risk would willingly put herself through that. After his sister had disappeared, and the relationship with his parents had fallen apart, he convinced himself that he should be the last of the Mulder family line. When things became serious with Diana, before he could mention it, she said absolutely she wasn't going to put her career at the time on hold for a family. Mulder felt relieved. 

  
When he and Scully had worked together, seeing her with any child, and knowing her desire to be a mother, he felt like he needed to help make that happen, however possible. 

  
If he had known the risks associated with pregnancy and childbirth he most certainly would have told her no, if only to selfishly keep her safe.

 

********

  
Scully stood over the casket of Mary Innes. Mulder had arranged for her to be properly interred in a public cemetary in a new casket with the diary of Andrew Gillam buried at her feet, items for her child and a new set of rosary beads. Inside the main building of the cemetry where the casket was being held before transport to be buried. Her new gravesite was near a large oak tree towards the edge of the large property. Most of the people buried in this area were buried in the late 1800 to early 1900s with simple headstones and few statues. 

  
"Does Agent Mulder think it's really that simple?" John Doggett asked, coming up behind her. "We bury the body of a woman and these murders miraculously stop?"

  
Scully looked up into his bright blue eyes and studied his sullen face. "I think there's some follow up to it but if she's laid to rest, Mulder's theory is that she will cease the haunting of the old church grounds."

  
"That's it?" Doggett asked in disbelief.

  
"We plan to have a priest bless her as she is being buried and from what I understand about poltergeists, they usually haunt because of unfinished business," Scully replied. "I think we need to track down the child and Father Gillam."

  
"Well, I can do that," he said confidently.

  
"I'm sure you can... Maybe that will help give her peace," she said with a shrug. "There's no hard science to say what will work and what won't with these types of phenomenon."

  
"I don't want to insult years of your work, but how did you two manage to keep your office open for so long?" He asked, shaking his head and smiling at her. 

  
Scully laughed. "We were shut down twice since 1993 and off the X-files for over a year."

  
John wanted to ask why she stayed but he knew the answer. The search for the truth, answers to what happened to her and bringing to justice the men who took so much from them, was enough motivation for anyone. Most people would have quit after the first abduction, losing a sister and the cancer.  No one banked on Dana Scully being more stubborn and tenacious in her pursuit for the truth. It went far beyond his quest for little green men. 

  
The only other person in the world who could understand what she had been through was Mulder. John could feel Mulder studying them as he approached and John let go of Dana's elbow, not realising he was holding it. 

  
"Dana are you planning to quit the bureau after you have the baby?" John asked and her cheeks pinked at the switch in topic. "I mean...Have you thought about what you're going to do?"

  
"I don't know. I don't know if I could go back, especially with the hours and all the travel..." her voice drifted off and she turned up to look at her partner more closely. "Why?"

  
"Just curious," he said, shrugging his shoulders as he shoved his hands in his coat pockets. "Let's get out of here, huh?"

  
"Sounds like a good idea," Mulder agreed, joining them. 

  
Scully looked down once more at the new casket and closed her eyes in a silent prayer for Mary Innes. 

  
As they exited the small office she felt Mulder's familiar graze of his fingertips across her lower back and she moved along, walking slowly through the wet grass. Even though she was looking straight ahead, she could feel Agent Doggett next to her, keeping one hand free in case he needed to extend it to help her along the uneven ground.

  
The cemetry was an awkward layout, the parking lot was across a section of the cemetry and down a pathway. From the map of the property, she assumed it was from slowly aquiring more property and continually adding to the size of the space. They kept it in this pathwork pattern instead of doing a major overhaul and unearthing bodies for a cleaner layout. 

  
A woman as fiercely independent as Dana Scully was just becoming used to the idea of a man like Fox Mulder being around in more of a romantic capacity. He invaded her personl space, took over any office or motel room with his messiness and occupied more than half the bed when he slept over. 

  
And when he disappeared, she had to adjust to a man like John Doggett without the quest for the truth, a law enforcement man to the bone. John Doggett was respectful of her personal space while they worked, a gentleman but completely skipped the sexual innuendo. She always thought his eyes were sad even though he remained normally upbeat. He was damaged in so many ways, like Mulder. After they buried Mulder, he was a good friend and a comforting presence and she surprised herself how much she had leaned on him the last 6 months. He was a man who knew a deep, personal loss and lived on. 

  
"Agents!" Doggett stopped suddenly at the grave with a familiar last name. 

  
Scully turned around and approached the gravestones Agent Doggett was standing in front of. 

  
**Andrew Gillam 1866-1941**

**John Frances Gillam 1886-1966**

**Mary Elise Gillam 1890-1985**

  
Doggett pointed to another set of grave stones which was obviously the family plot. "I think we found where Andrew Gilliam was laid to rest."

  
"Why wouldn't he be in the parish cemetry?" Scully asked.

  
"I guess we better go to the new church and find out," Doggett suggested. 

 

*********

The Catholic Community of St Ignatius Church was planted in its new location in 1965 however stood at the new Cypress build site from 1806-1965. Inside the Saint Ignatius the cathedral walls were adorned with banners of the different Saints being praised at the time. On Sunday they would be discussing St John. Passion Sunday and Palm Sunday were approaching. Easter and the rebirth, the rising of Christ and the newness of spring. 

  
It was a big deal among many secular Chrisian religions and Scully enjoyed the mass - it was a wonderful confirmation of faith for her. Mulder had decided to go speak to Welles while Scully and Doggett spoke to the priest. His distaste for the church and everything it stood for only created conflict between them.

  
Once, when she and Mulder argued about religion he asked her how she could believe in a church so much that perscuted women based soley on the sexual desires they enticed from men. She then asked him how he could work for a government he distrusted so much. She argued the church had changed and without her faith she might have given up during difficult times throughout their partnership. He might not have understood her faith but he respected it a lot more since then.

  
Inside the sanctuary was a younger priest, probably a year out of seminary school, walking through the rows and stocking the pew brackets with small cards. The rain pelted the stained glass windows outside however the small amount of light from the dreary day illuminated the santuary in a low hue. Small, yellow-glass lanterns with black rod iron details hung along the archways however they were at a dim setting. 

 

"Shouldn't the place be more packed?" Doggett asked, referring to the daily mass served at certain churches.

  
"Their congregation might not require it from the priests," Scully replied quietly, looking around the church. "Not every congregation does a daily morning mass as well as Saturday evening and Sunday morning services."

  
"Welcome, welcome," the young priest greeted them. "Our next service is not until this evening at 7 p.m. If you are looking for a baptismal service we can set up an appointment for discussions." 

  
Agent Doggett approached the young priest as he finished the row and Doggett pulled out his badge. "I'm Special Agent John Doggett with the FBI. This is Agent Dana Scully."

  
"I thought you were rather a smartly dressed couple for this neighbourhood. What can I do for you Agents?" he asked, looking up from Doggett's badge to study Scully.

  
"We had some questions about a priest that used to work at the St Ignatius parish," Doggett said, moving around Scully and towards the priest. A brief look of panic crossed the young man's face. "There was a Father Andrew Gillam who was working at St Ignatius around 1886."

  
"Father Gillam, I haven't heard his name in a while," the young priest sat down at the pew heavily. "What questions do you have?"

  
"Do you have any church records from the late 1800s?" Scully asked.

  
"Of course," the young priest looked over Scully carefully and gestured for them to follow him back towards the narthex. "The rectory is accessible through here."

  
"I'm sorry we didn't get your name," Scully asked as they walked down the aisle.

  
"Father Francis," the man said over his shoulder and opened the thick wooden door. "Please, through here."

  
Through the narthex, down a long hallway with pictures of former priests of the church they finally settled in front of a name plate of Andrew Gillam. 

  
"No picture," Doggett noted. "Not even a portait."

  
"Father Gillam was a man of the cloth who took his vows seriously, his vow of humilty being one of them," Father Francis described. "Many priests of the time would not stand for portaits in fear that it would be considered too vain. More of my fellow priests should look to him as an example."

  
"He also had a child with a young woman working at the church," Doggett reminded him. "Out of wedlock."

  
"You cannot judge man on one misdeed," Father Francis snapped then visibly calmed himself. "Mary Innes came to work at the church when she was 11 years old after her family was killed in a fire. She was a wild girl."

  
"How do you know so much about this?" Scully asked, recoginising the anger towards women so many priests towards women. 

  
"Mary Innes is not exactly a notorious tale but one too common among men of the cloth," Father Francis said and looked pointedly at her stomach. "The greatest calling is to be a priest and lead a flock. What can one man do but to resist all temptations?"

  
"Women are not the enemy, Father Francis," Doggett replied, calmly however the vein on his neck pulsed as though his heartbeat had increased. 

  
"Father Francis," an elderly priest joined them in the hall and smiled at the agents. "Who do we have here?"

  
"Father Boyle, these are agents from the FBI, they have questions about Father Andrew Gillam," Father Francis answered, his temperment suddenly different. 

  
"I haven't heard that name in years," Father Boyle shook his head.

  
"You know of him?" Scully asked. 

  
"Of course," Father Boyle said with the kind tone men of the cloth either mastered or didn't. Scully decided Father Francis had not mastered it. "Why don't we sit down and have some tea. I can find the records on Father Gillam for you."

  
The office of Father Boyle was full of books, heavy Limbert arm chairs and a deep leather chesterfield with several brightly coloured afghans placed strategically along the cracked edging of the back.   

  
"Father Gillam retired from the parish in 1890," Father Boyle said as they took the agents took their seats. He pulled out an old church record from the late 1800s. "He wasn't defrocked for being the father to Mary Innes' child, although he should have been."

  
"Why wasn't he?" Doggett asked. 

  
"Well there was never any solid proof of the affair. It was Mary's word against the church and they felt that Father Gillam took the blame for someone else," Father Boyle explained. "There were a series of attacks in the area and the children of these victims were taken to upstate New York, away from the mothers. They think he took responsibility for Mary Innes' child so he could be raised in a home, not an orphanage." 

  
"We were told he was buried on the church grounds but we saw his family plot where he was buried with his family," Doggett replied, looking up from his notes. 

  
"He left the church in 1890 but he remained an important part of St Ignatius. They had hoped his family might change their minds and bury him here on the grounds instead of at the cemetry. Our records were never ammended."

  
"We found a diary of Andrew Gillam. It details his changing belief his calling from the priesthood to who he believed was his soul mate, Mary Innes." Scully told the elderly man. She assessed with his liver spots on his hands and slight shake to his left arm that he battled alcoholism in the past. "Can you speak to that?"

  
"The heart wants what the heart wants. What did we desire at 21 we no longer feel the burning and longing for at 30 or even 70," he replied.

 

"Sometimes men come into the priesthood for the wrong reasons. Surely you both understand that love can be fleeting. Christ's love is eternal. And for the stricken, one true love could also be found in another. If Father Gillam did choose Mary Innes over the priesthood I certainly don't fault him for following his heart."

  
Father Boyle's words hung in the air. He spoke as a man who understood it wasn't a betrayal to choose one's heart for the greater purpose. Sometimes one chose the greater purpose over one's heart. 

  
"Thank you for your time, Father Boyle," Scully said, standing up. 

  
"I will be praying to St Margaret for you, my dear," Father Boyle said, shaking her hand and referencing the patron saint of pregnant women.

  
"Thank you, Father," Scully said with a small smile. 

  
As they drove in the car back to the precinct Scully wondered about the men who were drawn to her and she to them. How she followed her heart but tried to keep a level head. Daniel Waterston, damaged from his unhappy marriage and eager to break his vows. Jack Willis, her instructor from the academy and a man so tightly wound he made her feel on edge, even when they were supposed to be taking time away to relax. Shortly after she and Jack broke up, she met one of her longer term boyfriends, Ethan Minette, the news producer she never really fell in love with.  

  
There were broken hearts along the way, usually first by an action or inaction but always Dana Scully being the one to leave. She hid her heart away and kept herself from getting too close - she even tried with Mulder. He accused her of pushing him away and not letting her in after during her cancer. 

  
Yet she had let him in, she was in love with him completely. Against better judgement she let him over her walls because he let her through his. 

  
"Scully?" Mulder's voice brought her out of her thoughts and she looked up at him as he held open her door. "We need to talk to Welles."

  
Scully looked at her watch. He knew she wanted to be home that night.

  
"We'll still be back in Georgetown tomorrow morning," Mulder assured her and watched her glance at Doggett who was standing just behind Mulder. 

  
Mulder held a hand out in case she needed it as she got out of the car. Scully glanced at him then Doggett and tugged on the hem of her blouse. "I think I know what we need to do."

  
***** 

 

As it turns out, burying Mary Innes in the plot adjacent to Andrew Gillam somehow reunited their eternal spirits. Mulder was anticipating the spirit leaving or dissapating from the casket. He was hoping for some sign the reunion was successful and they would be witnessing something incredible. But, as luck would have it, there was nothing. Nothing phenomenal or interesting happened when they buried her body in the ground. 

 

Scully had watched the dirt pile on the grave and felt the dejavu of standing at a grave site. She rubbed her hand across her belly and felt the life moving inside of her.

  
"All that Mary Innes wanted for her child and her future with Andrew Gillam, I'm sure she never meant for it to end up like all this," Mulder said as he came to stand beside her.

  
"You think now that she's reunited with her family she will stop?" Scully asked. 

  
Seven years ago she would still argue the murders were work of someone not something. At this point she was happy to have some closure and Doggett would report exactly that. 

  
Their partnership in the basement had been fruitful as far as AD Kersh was concerned and aside from that, he was a good agent. If they wouldn't let Mulder back on the X-Files, the office might have a chance of staying open if Kersh was at least happy with how things were going. What would be the X-Files without Mulder and Scully? Was there more truths they were looking for?

  
"Ready to go, Agent Scully?" Welles asked. 

  
Scully nodded and walked back towards the detective's car. "Did Agent Mulder or Agent Doggett report anything at the construction site?"

  
"They didn't report anything but there's always tonight," Welles replied. "I know you and Agent Mulder need to be back in DC for tomorrow so I'll sit out there with Agent Doggett if need be."

  
"You would do that?" She asked, surprised at his sudden cooperation.

  
"J- I've been told I need to be more open minded in these situations," Welles said with a shrug and opened her door. 

  
She waited as he got into his side of the car. As he pulled the seat belt across himself she said, "Believe it or not, Detective Welles, I'm a scientist and have argued for logic and science for almost ten years."

  
Detective Welles pulled them onto the highway and back to the police department where Mulder and Doggett were finishing up. 

  
"So you can see my side of the coin here," he said. "But I heard you and Agent Doggett talking. You sound like you believe almost as much as Agent Mulder."

  
"Agent Mulder believes in more than he doesn't," Scully said diplomatically. "We've seen a lot in the last 8 years and more of what we have investigated has been paranormal activity that has been proven rather than disproven."

  
"How do you reconcile that with everything you have been trained to know as a scientist?" Welles asked.

  
Scully thought for a moment. "There's a science in what we do and what we used to not understand as science we once called magic. And occasionally we see closure to a case that confirms such instances of the phenomenon we've witnessed at the Cypress construction site as actual paranormal activity. It's exciting to think about as a scientist that there is more that we could learn about what is going on around us." 

  
"You sound just like Jennifer!" Welles said with a laugh as they pulled in front of the precinct.

  
"Are you and Dr Lombard-"

  
"We're friends, colleagues, but nothing more," Welles interrupted. "For a while I thought we could be more than that, but... She doesn't want me to be involved." 

  
Scully sat for a moment at the admission and nodded. She was going to ask if they were able to wrap up the case on their end to his satisfaction however she merely sat for a moment. Asking personal questions about the people she worked with was not her style. It opened the doors for too many other people to ask about her personal life. 

  
"I showed up at her lamaze class and she 'escorted' me back to my car," he said with disbelief. "I mean, she tells me she's pregnant, she tells me it's mine and then she tells me not to get involved."

  
The conversation was now no longer bordering on uncomfortable for Scully and was now in a territory she knew she had to tread lightly.

  
"I think the last thing she was expecting from me was any kind of commitment  but I'm not the kind of guy that is going to hear about a kid and just sherk my responsibilities," Welles replied, pouring his heart out to her.  "Do you believe in soul mates, Agent Scully?"

  
Scully was taken back at the question. She would have argued when she was fresh out of the academy and teaching the hard science that it went against everything she believed in. Fate, soul mates, the perfect opposite. 

  
"I believe I do," she said quietly. 

 

"I hope he knows it," he said and got out of his car. 

 

 

******** 

 

That night as they lay in bed at Scully's apartment, their bodies fresh from a shower and slightly sweaty from gentle love making, her mind went over the recent case and her conversation with Detective Welles. 

  
"Mulder?"

 

He hmm'd from his spot on the bed, feeling as though sleep was within his grasp.

  
"When did you think I was your soul mate?" Scully's voice asked tentatively from the darkness.

  
Mulder was more alert now, the question so uncharacteristic of Scully alerting his mind from possible slumber. "Probably when you were diagnosed with cancer I knew for sure. But before that I had thought from time to time you were."

  
Scully furrowed her brow and rolled onto her side to see him more clearly outlined in the moonlight. "What do you mean?"

  
"When I thought I might lose you forever, I knew. I mean... At the time I felt that it could only happen to me to lose the person who I was actually meant to be with," he said with the experiences of as a man who had felt deep personal loss. 

  
"You had thought of me... that way... before?" Scully asked, still tentative. He wasn't sure why. They were completely together in every sense but this was possibly the most open conversation of their emotions and love they had ever had. 

  
"Scully, I respected the hell out of you for years but it didn't change that I was in love with you," he said. "And it didn't change the fact that neither of us were ready for it."

  
Scully let the realization wash over her. "Oh..."

  
"You took off your robe in the first case we worked together, Scully!" He said, his voice clarifying he was fully alert now. "You have always been beautiful. I can't help where my mind went."

  
"Your mind... Mulder!" Scully swatted his arm and he laughed.

  
"Look, I might have looked at you that way, but I never did anything to make you feel uncomfortable," he reminded her. "Did I?"

  
Scully blushed and thanked the darkness of the bedroom for hiding the rose on her cheeks. "No, I thought maybe when we missed the communication in partnership conference in Florida I made you uncomfortable."

  
"I can admit it now... I didn't want you to do anything and regret it in the morning," he said sadly as though the possibility of missing their first would-be encounter some years ago still depressed him.

  
"I wouldn't have done anything," Scully replied. "I just wanted us to relax together a little."

  
"You forget I might have wanted to," he said and rolled onto his side to face her completely. "After I got you back I was worried if I got too close it would kill you. I worried I was dangerous to you."

  
"You still do," she pointed out, taking his hand and playing with his fingers. 

  
"Yes but I'm smarter now and aware you can take care of yourself," Mulder replied and kissed her lips softly.  "What about you?"

  
Scully sits quietly for a moment and Mulder turns around quickly to turn on the bedside lampt to see her fully. She gets uncomfortable under his gaze and she squirms visibly on the bed. 

  
"I'm waiting..."

  
She sighs and flushes slightly. "I don't know if I had an exact moment. There were a lot of little moments."

  
"Such as?" He prompts, trying to hide a smile but elated he can actually get her to talk about her feelings.

  
"Well the idea that other is one person you're destined to be with on a planet with literally millions of other people completely negates he very possibility of free will-"

  
"Scully." Mulder interrupts. "No stalling."

  
"I suppose... Maybe the first time I thought you were the only person I could ever see myself with...ever..."

  
"Yes?"

  
A blush crept over her face and she giggled. "Mulder..."

 

"Was it during that bug case in the woods?" He asked.

  
Scully looked at him, terrible memories flooding back. "What? No... Way after that!"

  
"Uh how about when we were attacked by those feral cats?" Mulder asked.

  
Scully laughed. "No, it uh, it was during that Cher concert I felt like we were definitely having more than a 'just partners' moment."

  
"That was the first time?" Mulder asked, surprised. "When we were dancing?"

  
"Yes!" She cried and shook her head. "I can't believe I'm telling you this!"

  
Mulder looked at her with love and slight disbelief. "Why not?"

  
"It's just so... it's so..."

  
"Open?"

  
"It's more than I'm used to us sharing is all..." Scully replied. 

  
"Maybe having a baby together could make us slight emotionally constipated," Mulder suggested and kissed her lips again and she grunted. "Okay so Cher is singing and The Great Mutato is dancing. I pull you into my arms..."

 

"We were dancing and it was such a wonderfully sweet moment," she said. "No one else in my life could understand it. It was romantic without it being anything overtly sexual but it felt right for us."

  
Mulder nodded, satisfied with her answer and kissed her fingers again. "Me too." 


End file.
